The Wanderer
by Lonely Violet Lacey
Summary: This is an OC fanfic. What happened? She can't remember a thing before she was four. Where are her parents? Who are her parents? Will she ever figure these things out? Or is it better for her NOT to know? Will she ever figure out her true identity? There's flirty romance in the air, is this a good or bad thing? She has all these questions, and has no answers for them.
1. Prologue

**Alright, this is my first Naruto fanfiction, and to put it even more detailed, this is my first one of Rock Lee. So I hope that you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing this. **

**Enjoy!**

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Prologue

Everything was so blurry at first, the sun was in my eyes, and I couldn't tell what I was lying on top of. I shielded my eyes from the raging sun and crawled under some cool shade. My vision started to clear, my senses were all flooding back into me slowly, and the pain followed.

I examined my body to see that there was blood running from my neck, wrists and ankles. Bruises seemed to be everywhere on my body, so everything hurt when ever I tried moving. But I had to move, find out what happened to me.

_Where am I?_ I wondered, looking around my surroundings, I was in some kind of forest, and yonder was a desert of some sort. I didn't want to go there, so I gathered my strength and walked deeper into the forest.

All my clothes were blood soaked, a simple grey T-shirt and black cargo pants. I wasn't wearing any shoes, and my dark purple shoulder length hair was a mess I couldn't deal with right now.

After a few moments passed of aimlessly walking, I came across a village, it was night though, so everyone was asleep except for a few guards. I wanted to climb up a tree, but I'm only four years old, so I didn't see any possible way off sleeping in a tree tonight.

My confusion soon turned to sadness, I didn't want to sleep on the ground, somebody was going to step on me, I just knew it. Looking around some more, I found a hole that goes underneath a tree. Shrugging my shoulders and sighed, I crawled in the little burrow. It was small, but far enough that nobody will be able to see me easily, and somewhat cozy and warm.

I scooted back a bit more and heard a squeaky yelp, I turned around and saw a wolf pup. I looked over the pup, seeing no sign of his mother coming back anytime soon.

"Hey little puppy, where's your mommy?" _where's my mommy?_ I thought. Then I realized, I couldn't remember anything, nothing before today, like I had a case of amnesia or something.

The little grey pup only whimpered while it had its tail in-between its legs.

"Oh, I'm sorry puppy." I reached out with my hand, "I'm not going to hurt you anymore, I promise."

The pup flinched as my hand got closer to it, sniffing my hand, it smelled the blood and started licking my wrists. I petted the little pup and it wagged its little tail then huddled into my stomach shivering.

"I'm cold too, we can warm each other up." I hugged the little pup closer, feeling its tiny warmth seep through my blood stained shirt. Sighing with the little warmth I had, I finally drifted off to sleep in the soft dirt.

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**Well... it was short. Sorry about that, but most of the chapters after this are a minimum of 2000 words or more. So don't worry. **

**Please review! Tell me what you think please and thank you!**


	2. A New Day

**Welcome back =D are you a new are continued reader? Ah I don't care, as long as your reading =3 this one will be longer, but not super duper long… hopefully.**

**Enjoy the first chapter =) **

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Chapter 1

A New Day

It was early in the morning, not everyone has woken up yet, it was a good time to take an early cool walk before returning to my office to do paper work. Being the Hokage, you have to have a team of ANBU with you wherever you went, even if it were just a plain walk, they have to. They were in the woods, near the village, not out of sight of it, just enough to see the whole village, including the carvings into the mountain of all the past Hokages, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, the third one, he hadn't died yet. He was appreciative of it of course, just wished the fourth Hokage was still alive to see his son grow.

"Careful Hokage," one of the ANBU in front of Hiruzen stopped him, "I sense chakra in that burrow, under the tree."

"I know," Hiruzen said as he stepped through the ANBU, "it's just something small, I can take care of it." he was about to look under the tree till he heard a yawn from it, he only stopped and waited for whatever it was to come out.

The ANBU stood in a fighting stance, ready to pounce on whatever it was, but Hiruzen merely just waved them off, seeing a head slowly come out, eyes still closed while crawling her way out. Her eyes got halfway opened as she sat against the tree and stretched, dusting herself off.

"Good morning young child." Hiruzen said, startling the child, she fell to her side and nearly screamed, bug eyed as she backed away. "No need to fear child, I wont harm you." her dark brown eyes eased up, her breathing slowed down as Hiruzen got down on one knee, reaching his hand out to help her.

She looked at his hand curiously, seeing all the wrinkles, liver spots, nothing concealed in his sleeves as far as she knew. She took a deep breath and exhaled, taking his hand now. He stood up and helped her up. The little wolf pup came out yawning and stretching, looking at the new people curiously cocking his head to the side.

"Can you tell me your name child?" Hiruzen said with a smile.

Her memory was still fuzzy, not even able to remember her own name, she tried her hardest and found a word, or name, that kept popping up in her head. "Asuka, what's your name." she asked in her innocent voice.

"Normally people address me by Hokage, but my name is Sarutobi Hiruzen, just call me Hokage for now."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and said, "alright Hokage, what are you going to do with me?"

"Just try to find your family young one," he started walking towards the village, "do you have a last name Asuka?" the ANBU followed behind them.

"Well… not that I know of." She answered as her new wolf pup followed her.

"Hm… this will be hard finding your family." He said as he stroked his beard.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"The village hidden in the leaves, also known as Konohagakure." He said with a little pride in his voice.

"Is there a shorter name I can use, I'm not good with names." She looked up at him, her dark purple hair shining in the light as they exited the forest.

"Yes, Konoha."

She looked at the village, seeing all of it's structures, sights, and the face carvings in the mountain, she studied them, and didn't hear what the Hokage said.

"Are you listening?" he asked.

"I am now, sorry." She answered with sorrow.

"Its fine, the village is a magnificent sight, I can't blame you child." He said smiling at the end of his sentence. "Do you remember anything at all? Like how you got these cuts and bruises on your body like this?" He studied her hand that he was holding, looking at the cuts on her wrists.

"No, not at all," she answered holding her chin, "it's all a giant blur."

"How interesting, and what of that wolf pup, was it with you? Or did you find it?" he looked at the pup, it had a kick in its step, as if happy to be with Asuka.

"Oh, well I just found it, I don't even know if it's a girl or boy." Looking at the pup, it had a sparkle in its stone blue eyes.

"It's a boy, are you going to keep him?"

"Well…" she looked at the pup, he was sweet, that's for sure, he was there for her, "yeah, he kept me warm when I was cold."

"Then I think you should name it, don't you?" they started to pass what looked like a school, all the kids were outside, playing. But there was one boy on a swing, connected to a tree, who was all alone.

Asuka stopped, looking at the boy with blonde spiky hair. She tugged on the Hokage's robe and asked, "Who's that?" pointing at the boy.

"First of all, don't point, its very rude." She put her hand back to her side. "Second, that's Uzumaki Naruto, why do you ask?" he asked, looking her in the eyes.

"He's alone, he shouldn't be alone, why is he alone?" she asked with plea in her eyes.

"The parents of those children tell them to stay away, thinking he's dangerous."

She looked at Naruto, then let go of the Hokage's hand and ran toward him. Naruto looked up at Asuka running toward him, her clothes are still stained with blood, then she stopped right at Naruto's feat, smiling at him. "What's your name?" she piped up.

His eyes bugged out, they were a pretty blue, near electric blue. He blinked a few times before answering, "I-I'm Naruto Uzumaki, who are you?"

"Asuka, you know you shouldn't be alone, right?" her pup ran up and jumped in Naruto's lap, licking his face, making him smile and laugh. He was holding the pup up above his face. Asuka's smile grew bigger.

"Is this your puppy? Can I keep it?" Naruto asked, hugging him close to his chest.

"No silly, finder's keeper's. Besides, he likes me more, isn't that right boy?"

The pup looked up at Asuka, and then jumped into her arms licking her face. Naruto kept his smile than asked, "oh yeah? What's his name then?"

Asuka looked at her pup; his eyes were big and beautiful, fur still soft like baby hair. "Hatsuharu, his name is Hatsuharu."

Naruto petted Hatsuharu, smile still big. "That's a cool name." he said showing a toothy smile.

Asuka looked over her shoulder, back at the Hokage, he slightly tilted his head to the side, he wanted me to go with him. She looked back at Naruto, he was still petting Hatsuharu. "Hey, Naruto, I have to go now."

His smile quickly went away into a frown; he put his hands by his sides and looked down at the ground. "ok." Was his reply.

"Hey, cheer up," she put a hand on his cheek and got him to look back at her, "I'll be back, I promise."

He smiled again, then he got up off of the swing and hugged her, putting his head in her shoulder. "Thank you, for talking to me Asuka, I'm tired of the other kids treating me like some rabid dog."

She felt him tearing up, about to cry on her shoulder. She hugged back and said, "Were friends now Naruto, I wont ignore you, you're a great friend."

He stopped hugging and just held her shoulders at arms length, "Were… friends?" Asuka nodded her head. Naruto sat back down on his swing and rubbed the tears away, "Thank you… Asuka-chan"

She smiled and waved goodbye as she ran back towards the Hokage, putting Hatsuharu down and holding the Hokage's hand. They walked away from the playground.

"So it seems you've made a friend Asuka." He smiled down at her as she smiled back at him.

"Yeah, he seems nice, I don't see why the other parents don't want their kids near him." She said tightening her grip on his hand.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime child. What did you name your pup?"

"Hatsuharu, isn't he cute?" she smiled at her pup, he wagged his tail and jumped around happily.

The Hokage chuckled and said, "Yes, he's very cute."

"Where we going Hokage?" she asked.

"To my office, in the Hokage tower, right over there." He pointed to the building bigger than the rest of the buildings.

"Hey! You said it's rude to point." She pouted.

He chuckled some more and said, "It's rude to point at people, not objects."

"Oh, that makes more sense…why are we going there?"

"I'm going to try to help you, maybe find your parents and where you came from."

They stayed quite the rest of the way only making small talk till they got to the building.

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**Not a very good cliff hanger huh? Yeah, I'll work on that… and be patient is all I ask, she's not romancing Naruto, she's going to be with Lee, and I think she'll meet him in the next chapter or chapter 3… not sure yet, but you know.. I'm working on it ;) **

**What did you think? Was it a cliché? Oh well, when I saw Naruto as a kid, sitting on that swing alone, I just wanted to run up to the TV and hug it… but then I might have damaged my TV… I like my TV. **

**I think I might make it a bit longer next time… or was this good enough? What do you think? Tell me :3 I like constructive criticism.**


	3. Expect the Unexpected

**Well… not a lot of views yet, then again I'm just beginning, s I'm keeping my hopes up =) enjoy chapter 2**

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Chapter 2

Expect the Unexpected

It's been two years since the Hokage found Asuka, he hasn't had any luck finding her parents, due to Asuka's memory loss; it's hard to even find one of her relatives, if she even has any. Asuka has been making friends, but hangs out with one person the most. Naruto. Asuka was the only one to talk to him, besides Iruka and sometimes the Hokage. Being six now, not being able to find her parents with no wealth whatsoever, the Hokage let her stay at the tower, paying her to clean, file papers, ect.

During the time that she had stayed there, the Hokage saw potential in her, dedication, logic, durability, and mercy. Something the Hokage hasn't seen in a long time. So, he got a volunteer from a chunin to train her, and her wolf, Hatsuharu. Hatsuharu has grown during the two years of being with Asuka. Even though she thought her companion was a normal wolf, he hasn't stopped growing.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Morning came, Asuka was still sleeping though, being tired from working for the Hokage and all. Hatsuharu has been waiting for hours for his companion to wake up though, so his patients finally ran dry, he did what he always done when Asuka did this. Drag her outside, or until she woke up.

Hatsuharu got a mouthful of the comforter, and yanked it out of Asuka's arms; leaving her exposed, only wearing short-shorts and a tank top. She shivered and huddled into a fetus position. The grey wolf just pinned his ears back and shook his head. He burrowed his way into Asuka's arms and put his cold, wet nose on her neck and face. She squirmed and pushed him off, turning to the other side.

With a huff, Hatsuharu grabbed her foot with his mouth and started dragging her to the bathroom. Her eyes shot up as her whole body hit the wooden floor, still half asleep, she ignored it and fell back asleep. He rolled his eyes and continued to drag her. Reaching the sink, he let go of her foot and turned it on, getting a mouthful of cold water, he spewed it on her face.

Asuka sat up, in shock, and immediately looked at Hatsuharu, angry. "You couldn't have kept nudging me could you? No, no, no, you HAD to dump cold water on my face!"

He cocked his head to the side, activating his puppy dog eyes and stared deep into hers.

"And don't even try playing 'innocent'. This time, you're working with no brakes." She scolded him as she got up and changed clothes.

Hatsuharu just rolled his eyes and went into the hallway while Asuka changed.

She did her normal morning routine, brushing her teeth, take a short ten minute shower, and get in her work clothes. a dark purple sweat shirt, black sweat pants, and brown sandals.

She walked out of her room to see Hatsuharu sitting in front of the door with the mail at his feet, and a straw broom up against the wall next to him. "You're just prepared for everything aren't you?" she said sarcastically.

He nodded his head gleefully, taking in all the "glory" of being a morning kind of dog.

Asuka picked up the mail and sort it all out, from the councilors, to the Hokage's mail. "Here," she put the Hokage's mail on one side of his collar, and the councilors mail on the other. "you know what to do."

He nodded his head and ran off to the direction he normally goes.

She sighed as she picked up the broom and dust pan attached to it, and started sweeping.

An hour or two later, she started moping, and Hatsuharu pulled the bucket of water with him, following Asuka. The Hokage walked towards her and spoke, "Asuka deer, would you mind to stop working for a moment and follow me to my office?" She nodded her head and got Hatsuharu to mop. "Hatsuharu too."

Hatsuharu put the mop in the bucket and put it to the side and started following. "Is there something wrong Hokage?" Asuka asked.

"No, I'll tell you when we get to my office." He answered. Getting to his office, Asuka opened the door for him, he nodded his head and entered, Asuka and Hatsuharu followed, closing the door behind them. The Hokage took his seat behind his desk and gestured Asuka to sit in the guest chair in front. She took her seat and Hatsuharu sat next to her on the floor.

"Do you have any idea why I called you in here?" he asked. She shook her head 'no' and let him continue. "I see potential in you, potential I haven't seen in years, so I have an offer for you." she sat up straight in her seat, setting her hair behind her ears to make sure she didn't miss one word. "I want you to start training to be a shinobi."

Starstruck. That was how she reacted in her mind, but in reality, she said, "Th-Thank you, Hokage, sir, b-but, who will train me? You?"

"No, not me," he said, shaking his head, "somebody else who trained hard when he was just a kid like you."

She took a deep breath and exhaled, "What about Hatsuharu? Will he be able to train with me?"

He rested his elbows on his desk, folding his hands together, resting his chin on his hands, "Of course, you two are partners after all."

Asuka smiled at her companion, and he smiled back, showing his white canine teeth. Looking back at the Hokage, she asked, "Who will train me?"

Somebody knocked on the door, "Come in." the Hokage said.

The door slammed open, hitting the wall and backfired, then hit the guy in the face, knocking him on the ground in the hallway. Asuka didn't get a good glimpse of him; neither did Hatsuharu who cocked his head to the side. The door opened normally this time, with a man in a green jumpsuit, while wearing a flak jacket, and rubbing his swollen red nose. "Might Guy here," he spoke, "at your service!" he straightened up, gave a toothy grin, winked, and gave a thumbs up as his teeth sparkled.

"Asuka," Hokage spoke, "Might Guy will be your sensei, you will still work around here though, and you will be living on your own in a one story apartment, good luck."

Feeling Might Guy's presence right behind her, she turned around and Guy was staring straight at her, over shadowing her. "So! This is my youthful student!" he spoke with great confidence. "This is my first student, and as my student, I must know your name!"

Asuka swallowed the lump in her throat, "I'm Asuka" she spoke with a hint of fear, "and this is my companion, Hatsuharu." She gestured at her wolf, he nodded.

"Well then!" Guy spoke again, "I have two students to teach now! Come! I will train you to be great, youthful shinobi!" he grabbed her arm and ran out of the room with Hatsuharu following.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Finally Guy came to a stop and let Asuka down in the middle of a grassy field, just outside the gates of Konoha. She was dizzy, and temporarily disoriented by the speed of that he hauled her. Plus he accidentally slammed her body into a wall or two on the way. Hatsuharu caught up after a minute or two, not even panting hard.

"So Asuka! Ready to train?" Guy looked at her with anticipation, she was on her back, drooling, and had a nose bleed.

"I-I think I've had enough training for today," she replied, "Guy sensei."

"Oh nonsense!" he shouted, "For the power of youth never has enough!" she groaned and put a hand on her forehead, feeling a giant bruise forming. He cleared his throat and said, "Um… sorry for slamming you into some of the buildings… I'm just so excited!"

She sat up, gathering what little senses she had left, "How old are you?"

"20 years young! Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." She replied as she got up, having a support of a tree.

"Here," Guy gave her some clothes, "I want you to change behind one of the trees, I promise I wont look, for I am a gentleman." He turned on his heels, his back facing her.

"Why do I have to put these on?" she asked.

"Because, what you're wearing doesn't suit the training I have for you today."

She did as he said and changed, and like he said, he never peeked with the guard of Hatsuharu. She came out and asked, "Why do I have to wear the same clothes as you sensei?" she was wearing a green jumpsuit, and weighted orange leg warmers.

"So then everyone will know that you're MY student of course!" he winked and his teeth sparkled as he smiled.

"Alright then." She sighed and started picking her feet up, trying to determine how much weight was in the leg warmers.

"Don't worry about the weights, you'll soon grow strong enough to be able to run with ease as you continue wearing them. They're just ten pounds." He answered the question in her thoughts.

"What about Hatsuharu? Doesn't he get weights?" Hatsuharu glared at her.

"Oh right! I almost forgot." he dug into his bag and pulled out a green collar, and for dog sized leg warmers. "I got these for him too!" he tossed it to Asuka, "Your partners, so help Hatsuharu put them on."

An evil grin slid across her face as she looked at Hatsuharu, "With pleasure sensei." Hatsuharu swallowed hard as she worked on getting the stuff on him. It wasn't that hard, but he kept struggling. After she finished, he let his head hang as he sat down in despair.

"Alright then! Now we are ready to train!" Guy yelled out as he jumped in the air. "First, I want you two to do 50 push ups and 50 sit ups, Hatsuharu can sit against a tree while you do your sit ups Asuka. And I will do 500 push ups and sit ups, if you two cant beat me, I will add more."

Asuka and Hatsuharu looked at each other. _Is this guy crazy?_ They both thought. But no matter, they both got into their push up form. (Hatsuharu, being a wolf, he stretched his lower legs out and pushed up and down with his upper legs, just in case you were wondering.) They started doing their push ups, but Guy was MUCH faster at doing his.

"Hatsuharu," Asuka spoke, "we need to beat Guy sensei, we need to step it up a notch." He nodded his head, and it seemed like they were both in sync; doing 10 push ups within 15 seconds, give or take. While Guy did 30 in 15 seconds.

After the push ups, sit ups, and Hatsuharu sitting up against a tree, Asuka and Hatsuharu beat Guy. "Well done students!" Guy shouted with glee, "now, it's time for running. I want you two to do 5 laps around Konoha, staying together at all times, for as a team, if one doesn't finish, the team fails. And I, will do 50 laps, if I finish before you finish, I will add more laps, understood."

Asuka and Hatsuharu did a salute, "Yes sensei!"

"Good! Now get moving!" they both ran, but of course, Guy was MUCH faster than Asuka and Hatsuharu.

As they made they're laps, Asuka noticed something in the woods, but didn't bother to speak up, it didn't look threatening, just looked like training. When they finished before Guy did, they both fell onto the ground, exhausted. Guy finished his laps, and didn't even break a sweat.

"Good job students!" he did his 'good guy' pose, and started to walk away. Then he remembered something, "oh yeah! And your training tomorrow will start at 3pm, and end at 6, don't be late. And your apartment is D32 at the apartment complex towards the east, here's your key." He tossed it toward Asuka, but she didn't catch it, she just let it bounce on her belly. "I'll see my youthful student tomorrow!" he ran off, leaving Asuka and Hatsuharu behind.

Asuka sat up and said, "You go to the apartment, I'm going to explore for a bit." he nodded his head and took the key before running off. "I'll meet you there!" she sighed and walked into the forest, looking for the person training out here.

Hours past, it was dark, and she didn't find anyone. She was tired, it seemed like every muscle hurt in her body, but she still changed into her old clothes and got up into a tree. _Might as well draw while I'm out here in this beautiful scenery._ She got comfy on a branch before taking out some paper and a hard surface she carried around in her bag. All of her drawings started out with a line, whether it be abstract, or a drawing of an animal, she loved drawing.

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**Yah! It was longer than last time =D cant say the same thing for the next chapter though… the next chapter is, "New Things Everyday" **


	4. New things everyday

**Well, there's still not one review… oh well. I'll keep writing these because they're fun for me, but if I get to chapter 10 and it seems that nobody likes it… I don't know what I'll do, hope you like chapter three.**

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Chapter 3

New Things Everyday

Asuka's POV (Point of View)

I was just sitting in the tree, finished with my drawing. People say I'm a good drawer, for a six year old, I still think I'm terrible though. _The hardest critic you'll ever meet is yourself._ I remember the Hokage saying that, he's seen a few of my drawings and thinks there good for a kid. I sighed, the cool night breeze brushing my neck, along with my hair. "I'm tired, I should be getting to the new apartment, but I don't want to move, maybe I'll sleep here for the night." Yawning, I just let my legs hang and my arms dangle as a rested.

It didn't seem that long, but something woke me up. _What the heck's going on? An earthquake? It's not even vibrating much, just ignore it and go back to sleep._ I was slowly going back to sleep, but then I fell of the branch and on top of something. "Ow! Who the heck-" I was on top of a boy with round, dark eyes, long jet black hair in a braid wearing a white robe. "Who are you?"

He blinked a few times before answering, "My name is Rock Lee. I could ask you the same thing."

"Um, I don't have a last name, so it's just Asuka." I studied his face a bit more and saw blood. "Did I make your nose bleed?! I am so sorry!" I got off of him and helped him sit up before he could answer. "Your hands and shins are bleeding too! Did I do that!?"

"Calm down!" Lee said, "First of all, you did cause the nose bleed, but I was the one who made my knuckles and shins bleed."

"Why would you do that to yourself?" I got out the bandages from my bag. "Here, let me help you." then I got a swab of cotton and gave it to him. "Stuff this up your nose, and hold the bridge of it, it'll help stop the bleeding." He didn't question me and did as I said as I started to wrap his knuckles.

"Why are you helping me?" he asked, "I haven't seen you at school."

"Well… I don't know, because I fell on you. I don't go to school, I work for the Hokage and starting today, I'm training with my sensei." I answered.

"Who's your sensei?" he asked.

"Might Guy, he's weird… but in a good way." I flashed him a smile, and he smiled back.

"Your… not going to make fun of me?" he asked, slightly confused.

I cocked an eyebrow at him, "Why would I make fun of you? You seem ok."

"Well… I cant do ninjutsu or genjutsu, only taijutsu, the other's make fun of me for it." he narrowed his eyes and let his head hang, letting go of the bridge of his nose and letting the cotton swab fall off. His nose stopped bleeding.

I held his chin up and locked eye contact with him, "Don't let the others get to you just because you can't do what they can do, everybody is different, whether it be size, shape, mind or color, they can't make fun of you because you're different, because they're different too."

We kept eye contact when he finally replied, "Th-thank you Asuka. Nobody has ever said that to me."

I smiled and hugged him. "I'm glad to be the first than."

He froze up for a few seconds before hugging back. After we both released, he tried getting up, but needed support of the tree due to his injuries. He cringed with pain.

"You need help." I said before putting one of his arms over my shoulders, helping him walk.

"No I don't," he said, "I've done this before."

"And how many times has a kid fallen out of a tree when you kept hitting it?" he narrowed his eyes and looked away. "Thought so. Where do you live?"

"That way." He pointed in a direction.

"How informative of you Lee, I know exactly where you live now." I said sarcastically.

"Sorry, I'm not good with directions, I'll just tell you when we're close." I nodded my head in agreement. "Where do you live?"

"In an apartment in the east, I haven't even gone there yet to see what the place is called." _Hatsuharu must be mad… or worried._ I thought to myself.

"Did you just move here then?" He asked.

"No, I've been here for two years now, I just moved out of my room in the Hokage tower and into an apartment today." I answered. "How old are you?"

"Seven, you?"

"Six, can't believe I'm helping a kid who's older than me." I smiled at him, letting him know I'm kidding.

He did a soft, near silent chuckle, "Shut up."

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Lets see… D32 was it?" arriving at the apartment complex building, I got to the door that held my new home. I opened it to find an angry, grey wolf staring at me with daggers in his eyes. "Not a, 'welcome home Asuka', nope. It's 'where the heck have you been, I'm so mad at you' look." He just let his head hang and sighed before staring at me again. "I know, I know, I'll go to bed. Mr. Party-pooper." He stepped in front of me and stared at me again, then I heard his stomach growl. "Oh! Your hungry, well, I'm hungry too. How about noodles?"

He wagged his tail and grabbed some dry noodles from its container and handed it to me. "We'll have spicy chicken." I said as I put the dry noodles aside, boiling a pot of water and getting some spices.

An hour and a half past while they were finished eating our spicy noodles and heading off to bed. I couldn't go to sleep though.

_That guy…_ Asuka thought. _Lee was his name right? Why do I always run into the troubled kids? First it was Naruto, now it's Lee. They're both nice, I just wander what could have happened to them that make them outsiders to the others. Naruto, the misunderstood, and Lee, the 'weird' one as they say. I think we'll be great friends. _

With a smile, I covered myself like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly, and fell asleep. 

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**Yeah… it's shorter, but the next chapter will be longer for sure =) **

**The next chapter is called, "Things change" **


	5. Things Change

**I know I've been uploading chapters like crazy recently, trying to get the story started, but I think I'm only going to be uploading every Monday to give myself a break, plus school is starting back up, so that always comes first.**

**By the way, THANK YOU for my first review! I squealed and kept clapping my hands while hopping in the seat. Then I got up and played "check yes Juliet" by We the Kings, then played that over 5 times dancing to it. I was really, just that happy. Thank you people for following and favoring my story ;-; it means a lot, it really does.**

**EDIT: i didnt realize that i put down what she looked like twice, so i edited out a paragraph not needed. **

**Enjoy Chapter 4 everybody (less than three sign)**

Chapter 4

Things Change

3rd Person view

Four more years have past, meaning that Asuka is now ten years of age. The training with Might Guy is near to an end, because he has to prepare to having a squad to train instead of the one student. She continued to work for the Hokage though, so her friendship has build up with him during the six years of being around him.

Hatsuharu has grown too, nearly as tall as Asuka being on all fours, and she's only 4ft 4". He's learned things that only a dog can do. And thanks to the time spent together with his companion, they can basically read each others minds now.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Asuka woke up with Hatsuharu jumping on her stomach.

_Another morning…_ she thought to herself as she got to the bathroom to take her shower and brush then fix her nearly butt-length dark purple hair. Putting the top half of her hair into a pony-tail, brushing her eye-length bangs to the right, showing off her milk chocolate brown eyes. She did the rest of her routine, brushing her teeth and putting her clothes on.

A black long-tight sleeved dress that reached to her knees with a purple hoodie-top that was loose on her, it only covered the ribcage and was too long for her arms; putting on her black tights and black sandals.

There was a knock on the door and Hatsuharu answered it; he barked, letting Asuka know it was for her. She got to the door to see it was one of the ANBU agents.

"The Hokage would like to see you as soon as possible Asuka-chan." He spoke.

She swallowed the lump in her thought, feeling that she did something bad with Naruto and Kiba again. "I'll get there as soon as possible." she nodded to him.

"Would you like for me to escort you then?" he asked.

"N-no, I just need to get a few things done before going." She answered.

"As you wish." He replied before quickly going elsewhere.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Do you know why I called you in here this morning Asuka?" the Hokage asked.

"No sir, I don't." she answered.

"Your ten years old, and you're still not enrolled in school." He stated.

"Nobody told me I **had** to attend, do I?" she asked.

"Yes, you do, in order for you to be a chunin, you have to take the chunin exams. And since I haven't been paying close attention to Guy's training methods, you've become better than the other students that are only one year from graduating. You're suppose to be in the grade below that, so I am putting you in the upper class, ahead of the class your suppose to be in. The grade above Naruto's."

"So, I'll be in Rock Lee's class?" she asked.

"Yes, don't get distracted in class, I want you to learn, and support, understood?" he said in his stern voice.

"Yes sir." She acknowledged.

"Good, you attend tomorrow at 8pm sharp, don't be tardy on the first day, and you don't have to work today."

"I won't sir," she bowed before exiting the room, "thank you." she shut the door behind her and looked at Hatsuharu, "Well, it had to happen sometime eh boy?" she petted him before walking outside with him behind her. "Let's go home boy, I wanna change clothes." she climbed onto his back and they headed off to their apartment.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

There was knocking on the door and Asuka answered it. "Hey Naruto! It's nice to see you!" she hugged him and he hugged back, they released and she got a better look at his clothes, he was wearing a big orange suit it looked like, better than the regular white T-shirt and shorts he wore.

"Hey Asuka!" he acknowledged, "It's good to see you too! Wanna go eat some ramen?"

"Sure! Wait… are you skipping again?" she stared at him with daggers in her eyes.

He hunched his shoulders looking away, "Um… define 'skip'." Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru showed up at the door.

"Hey Asuka!" Kiba piped up while waving at her. Akamaru shoved his head out of Kiba's jacket and barked happily.

"I'm sure that Iruka sensei is already looking for you." she stated.

"Probably." Choji replied while eating his bag of chips.

She looked over Naruto's shoulder. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

All four of them turned around to a VERY angery Iruka, "YOU ARE ALL IN BIG TROUBLE!" Iruka shouted. "GET BACK TO SCHOOL OR ELSE YOUR USUAL PUNISHMENT WILL BE WORSE!"

"Yes sensei!" all four of them said as they ran off toward school.

Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose then looked at Asuka. "Sorry Asuka-chan, have a good day." He walked away as she closed the door.

"Wanna still go eat ramen?" she looked at Hatsuharu, he nodded and smiled. "Alright then," she opened the door, "after you."

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Your ramen will always be the best sir!" Asuka said with pride to the owner.

"Thank you Asuka," he replied, "but you're still not my number one customer you know."

She giggled and said, "I know, Naruto's place will be taken one day."

He did his hardy laugh and replied, "That'll be the day my daughter takes over."

The young woman smiled at her father, then returned back to work.

"Have you had enough boy?" Asuka piped up to Hatsuharu, he nodded his head and then looked behind her. A pair of hands covered Asuka's eyes.

"Guess who!" whoever it was, they were masking their voice with a deeper, more unusual voice.

"hm… can I feel the hands?" she asked as she held the hands that covered her.

"No! That's cheating!" the voice was shaking her head side to side.

"How is that cheating Lee!" she laughed and took off his hands to see it was Lee. He stepped back and held up her apartment key. "Hey! No fair!" she jumped off her seat and ran after him. They've been training together for a few years only after months of meeting each other. But his determination was a bit more than her, so he was just a little bit faster and stronger than her. But she had a secret weapon.

"Hey!" Lee shouted, "You can't use Hatsuharu! That's cheating!" he said barely ahead of them.

"So covering my eyes and taking my keys ISNT cheating either?!" she shouted right when she pounced on him. They rolled over each other several times before Asuka got her key back. Lee was on top of her, locking eye contact, both of them are panting. Then she studied his face a bit more and found that his nose was blood. "I made your nose bleed, sorry."

He touched his lip then looked at his hand to see that it was true. He got up and so did she. "It's fine, it's nothing really."

"No it's not," she denied, "I broke your nose."

He cross eyed, seeing the swelling on his nose then touching it, cringing with pain. "Yeah, you broke it alright." then his eyes shot open, seeing that she's hurt too. "Um… your shoulder doesn't look too good either."

"What do you mean? I feel fine." Then she looked at her shoulder, seeing that he wasn't lying, there was a piece of broken tile sticking out of her shoulder. She took deep breaths, trying not to think about it. "To the hospital then?"

"Yah, I think that's best." He complied.

"Come on then." she climbed onto Hatsuharu while Lee got behind her, holding her waist. "Be gentle boy, my good shoulder isn't the best right now." he nodded his head and ran off.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Asuka was sitting up on the hospital bed, letting the nurse stitch her wound together. "You should be better within a couple of days. You better be grateful we have good healers here," the nurse said, "try not to do anything stupid." She winked and smiled before walking away. Hatsuharu was licking her stitch, then with a sour look on his face, he tried cleaning his tongue because of the taste of antibiotics. She smiled and petted him, then looked at the door to see that Lee is at the foot of it.

She got off her bed and hugged Lee, when he hugged her back he accidentally hit her bad shoulder. She backed off and held her shoulder while cringing. "I'm sorry Asuka." He apologized.

She flashed him a toothy smile and said, "It's fine, it's you so I wont hit you."

He smiled back gestured her to exit the room with him. She nodded her head and went as Hatsuharu followed.

"How's your nose?" she asked Lee.

"It's fine, or, will be within a few days." He answered, "What about your shoulder?"

"It'll be fine in a few days too." They exited the hospital; the sun was still in the middle of the sky, so it was barley in the afternoon. "Hey, I nearly forgot to tell you something."

Lee looked at her with concern, "What is it Asuka?"

"I'm going to be going to the academy starting tomorrow." She answered, "And due to Guy sensei's training, I'm able to skip a grade and be in your class."

His eyes were a mile wide with happiness. Then he hugged her, wrapping his arms around her waist with her arms inside, picked her up and spun her around. She ignored the pain surging through her shoulder, but she ignored it, because she like being hugged, and picked up. He set her back down and cleared his throat. "Sorry… was that weird for you." he let his head hang as he looked back at me."

She flashed him a smile, "Nope!" and with that, she picked him up and hugged him. They both laughed and she put him down. "Your it." she got on Hatsuharu and he ran off, leaving Lee behind.

"Wait! We're playing tag now?!" he ran after her, continuing to accuse her of cheating by being on Hatsuharu.

They were running now, not at full speed thought, Asuka didn't want to leave Lee in their dust. She laughed the whole way; she missed this, just playing with Lee. Her training with Guy, and sometimes Kakashi when Guy was on missions; she didn't get to play with Lee like this. She was always too exhausted to play after training.

She was deep in her thoughts, remembering the 'old days' when Lee jumped out of nowhere and tagged her from above, landing next to her, then ran off with a big grin on his face.

"Hey!" she yelled out to him, "Get back here!" Hatsuharu ran after him, but she stopped him. "Wait Hatsuharu, I have an idea." She pointed in the direction of her eye sight, Hatsuharu wagged his tail with agreement and ran after the target. "YOUR MINE!" Asuka pounced on her prey, "You're it Naruto!"

She had tackled him to the ground without hurting him and hoped on Hatsuharu and ran off.

"Are we playing tag!?" Naruto yelled at her.

"YES!" she yelled back. After she was far enough from Naruto, she hid in a little cave that was in the city that apparently no one new of. "I think we're safe boy." She petted Hatsuharu and slid off his back, sitting on the soft, warm dirt.

Not long after settling, they herd running footsteps toward their cave. they both remained silent in suspense, as the foot steps got louder and louder. Somebody dove into the cave without looking, landing on top of Asuka, head butting her nose.

"OW!" Asuka shrieked.

"I am so sorry!" Lee apologized, "I didn't mean to- Asuka? When did you find this cave?"

"Long before you did," she replied, rubbing her nose, feeling thick liquid slide down her cheeks.

"Your nose! It's bleeding!" he stated as he got off and helped Asuka sit up.

"What?" she felt under her nose to see Lee was right. Then she giggled.

"What's so funny?" he asked with a confused look on his face, "Did I hit your head up against a rock or something?"

She punched his arm "No, it's just ironic."

He rubbed his arm, "Ironic? How so?"

She playfully rolled her eyes and looked away, "I've head butted you several times on the nose before, finally it's happened to me." She stared into him with her soft brown eyes. "I can't see how you could have put up with me over the years."

He cheerfully grinned and stretched, "Well I don't know either Asuka, you are hard to deal with, hitting me all the time, whether its by accident or rarely on purpose-" he kept naming things off, but Asuka hugged him. He hugged back, "What's this for?"

"For being a good friend." They released, and she pecked him on the cheek.

He blushed, holding his cheek; he turned cherry red and fell over on his back.

She giggled to herself and scooted over to Lee's face, putting his head on her lap, stroking his hair.

"Hey look!" Naruto bursted out with Kiba by his side. "Bushy Brows and Asuka are boyfriend and girlfriend!" he started to die of laughter on the ground.

"They are just the CUTEST couple I have ever seen," Kiba fake swooned "aren't they Naruto?"

Naruto quickly got up, "Young love, what could be better?" They grinned and laughed to each other.

She just shook her head and threw two big rocks at them, hitting them in the head and watching them fall to the ground with their legs in the air twitching.

**Well, what did you think? Finally got some romance in the air huh? ;) and they're only kids, which makes it cuter in my opinion. **

**See you on 1/14/13 **


	6. Accidents Happen

**You know what I so foolishly did? I wrote the plot to every chapter, up to chapter 30, and there is still more to come after that, so this will be a long story. and quite frankly, I'm sad what will happen in-between now and later ;-; then again, it's not a good story unless something bad happens, making the story stronger with character.**

**Happy birthday to my first reviewer, kmgd14, SO HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! =D I hope you have a fantastic birthday ;D**

**On a final note, Asuka still wears the same clothes from the last chapter; every character in the Naruto world does that, so… yeah. **

**I hope you enjoy chapter five =)**

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Chapter 5

Accidents Happen

A year has past since Asuka was enrolled into the academy. She barley learned anything, and past the class with ease. She continued to train with Lee and didn't really like the other class mates; not even her teacher, so she didn't bother remembering his name. Everyday they trained, she saw Lee getting stronger, and faster in every way. He even met Guy, and he helped Lee pass by convincing a few people to let him pass.

Its graduation day, so everyone who past will be a genin, and given a headband resembling the leaf village. The people who got blue bands, means that they past with good scores. The people who got red bands, means they barley past, and the only person who got a red band, was Lee. But he didn't care, he past, he's just happy about that.

Everyone was assigned in a team of three to a jonin level ninja. Asuka, Lee, and Neji, were assigned to Might Guy. One of the most ridiculous jonin's in the whole village, but, he is strong, do not doubt him of this. Therefore meaning, Neji was the stick in the mud in the team.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"We past Asuka!" Lee exclaimed.

"I know right!?" Asuka piped "We're actual genin!"

"The power of youth is within us all!" Guy yelled out.

Neji just sighed and rolled his pupil-less, white/gray eyes, dreading every second of their 'glory'. Even Hatsuharu was happy for them, jumping around, wagging his tail, and licking everybody's faces.

"Hatsuharu!" Asuka yelled, "None of these poor people know where your tongue has been boy!" he pinned his ears back and did his 'innocent' smile.

"Why is everyone so happy?" Neji spoke up, "We're just going to be doing pointless missions until we're actual chunin."

Everybody just went dead silent, staring at Neji, dumbstruck.

"But Neji!" Guy broke the silence, wrapping his arm around Neji's shoulder, "It's the little things we do that makes us stronger."

"For the power of youth compels us all!" Lee added.

"That's right!" Guy let go of Neji and put his arms around Asuka and Lee. "As my new students! I want all of you to do ten laps around Konoha!"

"I will do twenty laps if I fail to finish first sensei!" Lee piped.

"Excellent!" Guy agreed, "Now go! I will meet all of you on the training grounds after you are finished."

"Come Asuka!" Lee grabbed hold of her arm, "We shall finish first!"

"Uh Lee, I don't think this is a good idea." He didn't hear her and started running off, dragging her along with him.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"We're back sensei!" Lee shouted after he got to the training grounds, "Me and Asuka finished." He still had a hold of her arm.

"Um Lee," Guy noticed, "are you sure she's fine?" he pointed to Asuka.

"Uh… I think so." He scratched the back of his head while looking at the unconscious, drooling, groaning Asuka.

"Lee, go get an ice pack," Guy told him, "I'll tend to her, try to get her to wake up, if that's even possible today."

"Yes sensei!" Lee ran off, leaving Guy to tend to her.

Guy sighed, "I remember our first day of training, I did the same thing to you, remember?" she remained silent, "Yeah, but I didn't hurt you like this, Lee is a youthful person huh?" she stayed silent. "Yeah, um, better see where Lee hit you exactly." He examined her head well.

"Oh, I see how he knocked you out now!" he looked at the back of her head where the spine and skull connect.

"Guy sensei!" Lee yelled out, "I have the bag of ice you requested." He handed Guy the ice filled bag.

"Very good Lee." He acknowledged, "I do have one question though,"

Lee straightened out his back, "yes sensei?"

"Did you run into a tree? Or hit her on a tree by accident?" he pointed to her head that had a bit of tree bark mixed with blood seeping out of the back of her head.

"Um… I may have ran right next to a tree by accident, and she may of hit it." He answered.

Neji entered the training grounds.

Guy face palmed, "Well Lee, you knocked her out cold."

"Nice going Lee," Neji spoke, "already treating our teammate with great respect." He glared at Lee.

"It's not like I meant to!" Lee shouted at Neji. "I just thought she was running with me…" he scratched the back of his head, glancing over at the unconscious Asuka as Hatsuharu followed behind Neji and saw her, just lying there.

He ran over to her, sniffing and licking her wound. Whimpering, looking at her with anxiety, wanting her to open her eyes and hug him.

"Guy sensei," Lee started, "why are you letting Hatsuharu lick her wound?"

"Well Lee, believe it or not, a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's mouth." he answered.

"But, they clean themselves." Lee stated.

"I know," Guy acknowledged, "but a dog's saliva can actually help quicken the healing process." He looked over Asuka to see she's still drooling and groaning in pain. He sighed before saying more, "Looks like she wont be training today, that means we get to train."

"What will we do with her?" Lee asked.

"I don't know, leave her at the hospital?" Guy suggested.

Hatsuharu violently shook his head 'no'.

"Then what do we do?" Guy asked.

Hatsuharu tipped his head toward his companion's house.

"Take her home then?" he asked.

Hatsuharu nodded his head with a slight grin.

"Alright then," Guy said, "Lee, take Asuka home, and be more gentle this time."

"Yes sensei." He agreed and grabbed her arm.

"Wait!" Guy shouted, "Make sure her head isn't facing downward, which means, don't carry her like a rolled up rug, and actually put her on your back."

He nodded his head and put her arm over his back, picking her up and holding her legs at his waist; letting her head rest on his shoulder before walking off.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_My head is throbbing…_she thought to herself. _Where am I? _She looked around, still lying in her bed. _I gotta get up, last thing I remember was Lee dragging me, then something hit me._ She grabbed the back of her head and felt some medical bandages were on her. _This is great, just great, what happened? _"Hatsuharu!" she called out, a few seconds later he was at her side. "How long has it been? An hour or two? How long have I been here anyway?" she kept throwing questions at him as he got to the calendar and pointed with his paw at a date. "It's been a whole week!?" she exclaimed, "What happened to me?!" he pinned his ears down at her, he couldn't talk. How was he suppose to tell her what happened? "Come on! I taught you that one jutsu for a good reason, use it."

He rolled his eyes and pulled out a parchment while dipping his paw into the jet black jar of ink. He focused for a bit and heard that similar sound when somebody performs a jutsu, then he smeared his ink-covered paw on the paper, not leaving a smug mark, but words. "Lee accidentally knocked you out," it read, "he's been checking up on you for the past week, seeing if you had woken up yet. He should be here any minute." He finished, looking over her in her pajamas.

"I guess I better get ready then- wait! Who changed my clothes?" she glared at him, but he just rolled his eyes, putting a paw to himself. "Of course it was you." she got out of her covers, still feeling groggy from her head. But she just shook it off and went to the closet to grab what she usually wore, and did her usual routine before heading out.

**Knock. Knock. Knock. **

Somebody was at the door, "Hatsuharu, would you mind getting that?" she asked. He barked back and she came to the door.

"Asuka! Your awake!" Lee chimed.

She just looked him over, "Uh… Lee, what did you do?" he was wearing a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers, his leaf band around his waist, with bandages around his hands and forearms and his hair was bowl cut.

"What do you mean- oh! You mean my appearance, well… I thought it was time to change, to look like our great sensei!" he smiled, giving me the 'good guy' pose.

_Oh no…_ she thought. _Now there are two of them._ "I um… see that Lee." She kept looking him over and rubbing her eyes, making sure she's not dreaming.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned about her facial expressions.

_He's lankier than I thought. _"Nothing!" she piped, "You look good Lee!" she hugged him unexpectedly, but he hugged her back anyway. "I'll miss your long hair though, braiding it and stuff."

They released, "Maybe I can practice braiding your hair?" he asked kiddingly.

"Pfft! Yeah right! You kept messing up last time." she playfully punched his arm.

"Hey, are you hungry?" he asked, "Hatsuharu kept shoving food down your throat, put sometimes you vomited it back up, so I'm just wondering."

Her stomach growled, realizing now how weak she is from hunger now. "Yeah," she answered, "I'd like some food."

"Is ramen fine with you?" he asked.

"Anything is fine right now." She answered. "Besides, any food is good food."

He laughed, "Same here! Some people can be so picky sometimes."

"I know right?" she closed the door behind her as she left and walked with Lee. "People like us are weird huh?"

"No, we're not weird, we just have great character." He stated happily.

She smiled, then felt something on the back of her neck, she felt it and looked at her hand to see blood. "Uh oh…" she whispered to herself. Dizziness started fogging her vision and senses before she fell to the ground. If someone was talking to her, no doubt Lee, all she heard was echoes, but could vaguely make out what he was saying.

"Asuka!" he shouted, "Are you alright?!"

She blinked a few times before answering to the green blur, "D-don't… take me to a…" she couldn't form the words.

"A what?" he asked as he held her in his arms.

"H-hospital…" she passed out while she was in Lee's arms.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Hours later she woke up on a couch, that wasn't hers. _Dang it, _she thought to herself. _Where am I now, wait a minute… this place looks familiar. _

"Your finally awake!" Lee said happily.

She rubbed the back of her head, feeling how tender it is now. "Where am I Lee? Is this your place?"

"Yah," he answered, "it is. Here, drink this." he gave her a bowl of warm soup, not knowing what kind, she took it anyway and starting drinking it. "Why didn't you tell me your head was still hurting? We could have gone to eat some other time you know?"

"To be honest, I didn't notice it." she answered.

He gave her a questioningly look, arching a bushy eyebrow and blinked a few times.

She giggled to herself, "I don't know how I didn't notice it, I really didn't, but thanks for taking care of me." she continued to drink the soup.

He gave her a warm smile, "Asuka, I cant count how many times you helped me when I beat myself up on that tree, it's the least I could do, plus I am the one to cause it so… yah." He started to insecurely laugh to himself while scratching the back of his head.

She put a hand on his shoulder, "Lee, don't worry about it, Guy sensei knocked me out too."

"Really?" he asked.

"Really, the first day I was training with him, he was so excited that he dragged me through the city, hitting a few building along the way. As far as I'm concerned, you two could be related." She smiled at him as he just listened.

"Well… we don't really look alike." He stared at the ceiling thinking.

"Hey, I think I'm ready to go home now." She started to get up, but Lee stopped her.

"No can do Asuka!" he stood up grabbing her arm and hoisting her up onto his back. "If you walk again, you might faint, I'll carry you to your house."

She laughed, "Thanks Lee, really though, I think I can walk." She tried putting her feet down, but alas, she was only 4ft 5", and Lee was 4ft 11", so her feet did not touch the ground. He grabbed a hold of her legs and she went along with it, wrapping her legs around his waist a she put her arms around his chest like a seat belt.

"Could you relax your legs?" he asked, "I can hold you." he put his hands under mid thigh area as she relaxed, letting her legs dangle at his sides.

"Where's Hatsuharu?" she asked as he carried her out the door.

"I think he went back to your house, I'm not sure." He answered.

"Hey Lee…"

"Yeah? What is it?" he turned his head to look at her in the corner of his eye. She kissed him on the nose.

"Thank you." she snuggled closer to him, gently tightening her grip on his chest.

He turned bright red and his knees started to fail him.

"Please don't faint Lee!" she demanded, "I'm still on your back!"

He shook out of it, snapping back to reality, gaining control of his legs again. "Don't do that next time then, ok?" he said sheepishly.

An evil grin appeared on her face. "Well, we are friends Lee, so can I kiss you here?" she turned his head and pecked him his forehead. "What about here?" she pecked his cheek, feeling his face getting warmer.

He couldn't take it anymore, it seemed like his whole body was going to turn red. He lowered his head, hiding his face from her as he smiled and laughed. "Could you quit that? I just might drop you." his grip on her was loosening.

"Ok, ok Lee, I'm sorry." She hid her face in the side of his neck.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Hiding, I'm a bit embarrassed too." They both laughed happily, with both of their faces red, he took her home.

* * *

**Well… what did you think? Yeah, she's short compared to Lee, REALLY short. I just thought it would be cute, if she was short and all… and the flirting is barley the beginning ;) **

**Sorry there were so many more time skips than usual, this chapter was going to be short, but I decided to put a few more things in there, so… yah. Why does Lee have to be so cute? I kept blushing as I wrote this, I really did, it was fun =) and I hope you love it, just as much as I enjoy writing it. Have a great day 3**

**See you next week! 1/21/13**


	7. You Need Help With That?

**Yeah, decided to do a double upload. For one reason, it's for kmgd14's birthday ^-^ Another, I'm a few weeks ahead of schedule, so why not? Right?**

**Hope you enjoy Chapter 6 **

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Chapter 6

You Need Help With That?

"NO! YOU CAN NOT GET ME TO WEAR THAT AGAIN!" Asuka shouted.

"C'mon Asuka," Guy pleaded, "it's for the team."

"Why doesn't Neji have to wear it then!?" she yelled.

He glared at her, "Because I simply refuse to wear it, do not drag me into this." he said sharply before turning his back on her.

"I'M REFUSEING TOO THOUGH!" she shrieked.

"You wore it when you were a kid though," Guy said, "so what's the difference with wearing it now?"

"Because I like MY clothes." she stated.

"I think I have a solution!" Lee pointed out. "Hatsuharu, would you ever be so kind as to get Asuka to wear this?" Lee handed Hatsuharu the clothing, a flash of vengeance spread across his face as he faced his companion.

Her eyes were hollow for a split second before snapping back to reality, "Hatsuharu, my best friend, companion, partner, I KNOW I've done some thing to make you mad," she pleaded as he advanced towards her. "B-but were f-friends, right Hatsuharu? Hatsuharu?!" before she new it, he tackled her into their house kicking and screaming. "HATSUHARU! WHY!? PLEASE STOP! PLEASE!? NO! I WONT GO OUT THERE! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME IF YOU CANT CATCH ME!"

Her team heard only her yelling and furniture breaking before Hatsuharu shoved her out the door.

"Just like old times, right Asuka!?" Guy flashed the 'good guy' pose.

She grimaced in sorrow, wearing the green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers again. "Why do I have to wear this again?" she sighed, letting her head hang.

"Because the power of youth is within us all!" Guy shouted with glee.

She let her body fall to the ground, doing a face plant. "That's not a reason though."

"Come on Asuka!" Lee grabbed her arm, hoisting her up as her limbs acted like jelly, seeing no need to use them. "Our first mission awaits!"

"That's right Lee!" Guy agreed, "Neji, go help our client with her shopping." He ordered and pointed in the direction needed to go.

"Why can't Asuka go?" he asked a bit too quickly. "She has better social skills than me."

"Which is why YOU need to go." Guy started nudging him. "You'll learn my student." He started walking on his own to his assignment. "As for the rest of us, we shall help our client move furniture out of her house, and into a new one!"

"We shall do this mission with the power of youth sensei!" Lee shouted with blazing fire in his eyes.

"You ready Asuka?" Guy asked concerned.

_I refuse to move. _She thought. _But I'm as ready as I'll ever be with these guys…_she sighed and nodded her head, still not standing on her own, letting Lee carry her.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"OW!" Asuka shrieked in pain as she dropped her end of the couch on her foot.

"You ok?" Lee asked.

She sighed, then started to laugh the pain away, "Just fine, lets get this over with." She picked up the couch with Lee's help and got it into the house.

"You shinobi have done a fine job," the old lady/client complimented us, "and thank you Neshi for helping me with my bags." She patted Neji on the back.

"It's 'Neji' and your welcome mam." Neji replied.

"Good work today!" Guy praised. "Now it's time for training Asuka to not hurt herself, who knows how bad it'll get if she's in actual combat."

She slumped her shoulders, letting sorrow and humiliation fill her face as she plopped to the ground. "I'm accident prone sensei, that means I'm bound to get hurt no matter what, you've proven that."

"But where there are mistakes, there is room for improvement!" he flashed a grin as Lee and Guy helped her up.

"Can I at least change back into my clothes?" she asked innocently, "I feel… 'exposed' like this."

"Fine Asuka, but you only have 10 minutes before we have to find you ourselves, got that?" Guy stated.

"Yes sensei!" her eyes shot with excitement, finally able to get out of these ridiculous clothes and get into hers, such a wonderful evening! She sprinted to her home with Hatsuharu following close behind her.

Reaching their house, she slammed the door behind her and put on her clothes faster than any other day she ever put on her daily clothes.

"Hatsuharu… they are going to KILL me one day, and say it wasn't their fault because I get hurt all the time."

He just rolled his eyes, _here we go again._ He thought as he sat down, letting her pace the room.

"I've had two concussions, and one coma, CAUSED BY THEM!" she fiercely stated, "I like my sensei, and Lee, but they're both RECKLESS." She tangled her hands in her hair and paced faster. "They are both REALLY cool guys, really, they are, but they need to learn how to control their own strength." She eased up now, brushing out her hair and twiddling with her thumbs now. "I've known them for so long now though, I should be used it I guess." She giggled.

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

She answered it to see it was Neji, "Asuka, we're waiting for you." he said sharply.

She sighed, preparing herself for another ridiculous day with her teammates. "I'm coming, I'm coming." She exited her apartment with Hatsuharu and locked the door before leaving with Neji.

After a quiet moment, "What do you think of our sensei and Lee?" Neji asked her.

"They're alright, I've known both of them when I was only a kid, and Guy trained me for about four years before I went into the academy. And because the Hokage didn't watch my progress, I was able to skip a year in the academy and be in your class, graduating early." She looked over at him, he was staring straight ahead with that plain look on his face, listening to her. "As for Lee, he's weird, but I'm weird too, so that makes us even. We became quick friends in only a few days, then as the years have past, I've learned things about him I would have never thought of."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Like, he lost his parents at an early age and lived by himself for the most of his life. He doesn't consider that a secret, it's not personal to him either, it's just another thing to be dedicated for to him, his deceased parents." She looked over at Neji again, either he was ignoring her or he was listening with no response. "He has a great personality, he really does, great confidence, dedication, but sometimes when he meets something that is near impossible to overcome, he falls into depression, that's when I try to pick him back up. It works most of the time, but when you can only use taijutsu, it's hard to overcome some obstacles, yah know?"

"Do you expect me to feel sorry for him?" he asked coldly.

"No, not at all, its people like you he wants to defeat the most."

He finally looked at her, "What do you mean?"

"A 'genius' he calls you, he wants to defeat the number one rookie in the academy, which is you, if he can beat you, then he'll believe in himself more, believing he's able to overcome more obstacles in the future." They made eye contact for a second before he broke it.

"So, he's going to keep challenging me till he wins? What a fool." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

A flicker of anger sparked in her mind, "Excuse me?"

"He is a 'failure', therefore, he will never win against me. I have won every battle I have been faced with, a 'genius' like me can not be beaten by the likes of Lee. Failures like Lee are destined to never beat me." it was like he was breathing out icicles is how cold he sounded.

Rage inflamed her whole body, wanting to take him down and show him what a 'failure' can do to a 'genius' like him! Her fists were clenched, ready to punch him in the gut and make him fall over as she kicked him in the ribs, breaking everything in his torso. But, he was her teammate, so she couldn't do that. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, she let it go and let Lee defeat him one day. "What does that make me Neji?"

He looked down at the ground, thinking, looking at the plants that sprouted on the side of the sidewalk. "I haven't figured that out yet, I still have not seen you fight, just get knocked out by recklessness."

"After three months, you haven't decided if I'm a 'failure' or not?"

"Like I said, I haven't seen you fight, just train." He stated.

She relaxed her shoulders. _If he said I was a failure too, I was going to beat his head in._ she wanted to glare at him, but didn't want to cause tension before training. "Your part of the Hyuga clan right?"

"Now what makes you say that?" he glared at her. "Did my eyes give it away?" he responded coldly.

She shook her head and went on anyway, "What does that Byakugan thing do? It makes it look like you have a nasty headache." She put her arms behind her head.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, he has explained this many times to people, and the leaf village should know of this by now, but he still explained it. "To keep this short and not overextend it, it basically lets me see through solid objects and the chakra that flows through your body. It also allows me to see nearly everything around me."

"Nearly?" she repeated.

He nodded, "I try hiding it when dealing with enemies, my only blind spot is around my neck area in the back."

"Does it hurt after a while?"

"No, well… if I use it for an extensive amount of time, it wont do any permanent damage, my eyes just get a bit temporarily damaged." His face looked calm again, didn't think she'd actually listen to him after making her mad like that.

Coming up on the gates of the training grounds, Asuka, Neji, and Hatsuharu entered to see that Lee and Guy sensei have already started.

"Ah Neji, you brought Asuka back," Guy recognized, "I thought we'd have to get her ourselves." He chuckled as Lee tried breaking his defenses.

"I can handle a simple task sensei." He crossed his arms and walked away from her. "It's not like a girl could be much of a problem anyway."

_WHAT!? _A storm brewed inside of her as she stomped towards Neji, "How about you say that to MY FACE NEJI!" she pushed him to face her, he stood a good 6 inches taller than her without even trying. Hatsuharu bit and tugged on her hand, trying to get her to back off, but she wouldn't budge.

He stared into her with those white/gray eyes, it was like an unbreakable chain connected the stare down. "If you believe you are even a match of me, then you **are** destined to lose."

"Guy sensei," Asuka spoke up, not looking away from Neji, "I wish to spar with Neji."

He blinked a few times, trying to process what just happened, "Wish granted! It's good to have a rival." He grinned, not noticing the atom bomb he just set off.

"Its on." Neji agreed.

"Your going to regret the day you decided everything was controlled by destiny!"

* * *

**Ooooooh cat fight! =^w^= meow 3 is there REALLY a rivalry between Neji and Asuka? Maybe… just maybe ;) I'll let your minds wonder on that note. **

**I've been playing my old Naruto games o.o and I miss them dearly 3 I'm going to be ordering "Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja STORM Generations" for Xbox 360 soon. Already played the demo and it was EPIC. Just loved it, I suggest getting it ;) **

**NOW I'll see you all next week! **

**1/21/12 "Destiny's a Bitch"**

**p.s. that reminds me, if I have the title for the next chapter, I'll put it up, but if I don't, then… yah, you get it. **


	8. Destiny's a Bitch

**I'm gaining more followers by the week… thank you so much, I really do appreciate it. If it wasn't for the followers and reviews, I don't know if I would of already wrote to chapter 10, which is why I am forever grateful to you guys. You wouldn't believe the week I've had, really, you wouldn't, this is the highlight of the past week. **

**I hope you enjoy :) **

* * *

Chapter 7

Destiny's a Bitch

Neji and Asuka stood at opposite sides of the field, Hatsuharu was by her side, ready to fight along with her. Guy was the referee, while Lee just watched, not knowing who to cheer for, they are both his teammates after all. So he'll cheer for both of them.

_Gah! _Asuka screamed in her head. _After all these years of training, I STILL don't have a style, unless I test out my new weapon… I'm not sure. _She looked over to Hatsuharu, it seemed like he knew what she was thinking and nodded his head, agreeing with her future plan.

"Why does Hatsuharu get to fight with you?" Neji asked.

"Because, he is a tool, not a student." She responded coldly.

"Are both sides ready?" Guy announced, asking both of them. They both nodded, an evil grin appeared on her face as she lowered her head, hiding her eyes. "Then on 'go' you will fight."

Asuka clenched her fists so tight, it felt like her fingernails were digging into her skin.

"Three!"

Hatsuharu dug his claws into the ground, growling as he stared down Neji.

"Two!"

Neji activated his Byakugan without forming a hand signal of any sort.

"One!"

All three of them tense, ready to pounce on each other.

"Go!"

Hatsuharu formed into three perfect clones of himself and charged at Neji at all different directions while Asuka did hand signals and twirled as the electric blue chakra flowed in the air around her.

Neji dodged all the clones, but couldn't find the original for some reason. He could normally spot the original quickly, and neutralize them. But he cant neutralize him if he cant find him, his focus turned to Asuka; seeing all tha chakra flow out and around her as she twirled. "I see what your doing now, and it's no use!" he charged after her, "I will stop you!"

She jumped out of the way in time, landing yards behind him. "Just a little more time Hatsuharu." She whispered.

In an instant, Hatsuharu came out of the ground and grabbed Neji by the torso, shaking him vigorously so then he wouldn't have time to do anything but experience a short surprise.

"This is it!" she formed a fist and water swirled around her whole fist and forearm as she sprinted towards him. "Water Fang Fist!" she punched Neji in the heart, knocking him out of Hatsuharu's mouth and several more yards away from them.

"I didn't think you'd do _that._" He said as he felt the puncture marks on his med torso, "Now I'll have to keep focus in the ground too."

"Now that there's water around us, I'm able to do more of a variety." She smirked. _Thank you Kakashi sensei._ She thought to herself. "But I do have many more tricks up my sleeve Neji!"

"And I'll see through them all!" he dashed to Hatsuharu, and started jabbing him really hard in certain areas. "Considering I'm able to see where your chakra flows, I'm able to stop the flow of it." he jumped back as Asuka pulled out a kunai and missed him by only centimeters.

"Hatsuharu doesn't need any chakra for the rest of this anyway!" she yelled out, still having that grin on her face. She did more hand signals, "Water style, stone rain jutsu!" she did a front flip, and landed, slamming her fist into the ground. Above came rain shooting so fast, all you saw was a blur. But Neji saw through this and dodged most of them, a few hitting grazing him, and barley three of them hit him directly. It literally felt like stones raining on him. While he was distracted, he barley dodged Hatsuharu charging at him and slashed him with a kunai.

"Is that the best you've got!" Neji looked up to see her in mid air.

"You have no idea." She pulled out a chain with an altered kunai at the end of it. "Meet my kunai claws!" she threw the connected kunai to Neji, but he dodged it and got a good look at the altered kunai now.

It looked like a normal four edged blade, the only difference is that the edges have little spikes on it that face the handle; making it easier for it to go in, and painful to get out.

The kunai claw sunk into the ground, she pulled and quickly landed on the ground next to Neji, seeing the opportunity to kick him in the chest.

He easily evaded and started jabbing her everywhere on her body, she began to feel limp, like her legs just disappeared and she couldn't stand anymore. She landed on the ground motionless, all she could do was breathe and look around without turning her head.

Neji released his Byakugan and glared at her, "Before you challenge an opponent you can't beat, make sure you have a thought out plan." He then jabbed a place in her neck that released all her muscles.

"I'll get you next time Neji, just you wait and see." She growled through her teeth as she sat up.

He scoffed, "I'll be waiting to see you fail again at what is impossible."

She got up, but her muscles still refused to work completely. Not being able to fully stand, she got on Hatsuharu's back and laid face down, letting her limbs dangle.

"You'll be like that for a day, just to let you know." He glanced back at her before Guy and Lee approached her.

"That was an excellent sparing Asuka." Guy praised as he patted her back.

"Yes! A most splendid match!" Lee gave her his good guy pose.

She gently laughed, "Thanks guys, but I'm not too happy with it, I need to train more." She looked down with grief, thinking that she could beat and knock some sense into Neji. But instead, she just proved him right.

"Do not give up Asuka!" Lee encouraged, "I lose to powerful opponents like Neji and I NEVER give up!"

She smiled at his kind and encouraging words, "Thank you Lee, I wont give up, I'll keep trying until I succeed, then I'll train more so then I'll continue to succeed."

"That's the spirit!" Guy agreed.

They heard footsteps enter the training ground, the team looked over to see Naruto, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji enter. But Naruto and Kiba were shirtless, and Akamaru was still on Kiba's head.

"PROTECT ASUKA'S INNOCENT EYES!" Lee screamed as he tackled her to the ground, covering her eyes with his leaf village head band.

"What are you four academy students doing here?" Guy asked. Hearing Asuka struggling to get Lee off of her, but ignored it anyway.

"Naruto and Kiba came her to train, and we were going to watch," Shikamaru spoke up, "But if your using it, we'll go else where."

"We were actually about to end today, let my students rest for the day." Guy responded, "So this is all yours."

"Naruto! Kiba! Why are both of you shirtless?!" Lee demanded.

"Well," Kiba started, "we were playing around, but you know how it rained yesterday? There was mud, and Naruto started to play around and he got both of us in a mud pile. So we put our shirts in our pack and came down here still."

"LEE!" Asuka shrieked. "I'V SEEN A GUY'S CHEST BEFORE! I'M FINE! LET ME UP!" she demanded, but Lee was still in peak condition, so he didn't move an inch.

"I will on two conditions." Lee commented.

"What are your demands!?" she questioned.

"Keep my head band around your eyes, and spar with me tomorrow." He said.

"FINE!" she answered. "But you're helping me home again!"

"I can deal with that." He responded as he helped her up and tied his head band around her eyes.

"You know what? Kiba, Naruto, you guys can help me home." She took off the head band and started running towards them, but as instantly she took off the head band, her legs were still jelly and failed her as she fell to the ground on her own.

Kiba and Naruto exchanged questioning looks, wondering what to do.

"NO THEY WILL NOT!" Lee shouted as he effortlessly put the head band over her eyes again. "BECAUSE THEY ARE SHIRTLESS AND THEY WILL CURROPT YOUR INNOCENT EYES!" he wrapped one of his arms around her waist with her arms inside his grip, and walked off as she was tucked under his arm.

"Lee!" Asuka shouted as he carried her off towards her house with Hatsuharu behind them.

"Hey, are Bushy Brow and Asuka dating or something?" Naruto carelessly asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Neji stated.

"Nope, that's impossible." Guy corrected.

"Why's that?" Choji asked.

"Because, Lee hasn't announced it yet." Guy finished with a big toothy grin.

* * *

**Ha HA! Did you think she would win? I hoped she would win though… then again, in my opinion, she would have lost to Neji because of her accident prone, and because of her shyness of a frontal assault. She likes to be "unpredictable" so she does more hide-and-seek attacks more than charging after the opponents. **

**Sorry it's short, but chapter 9 will be longer, I promise, the next chapter is about the same length as this one. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it. **

**I'm also considering a double upload ever other week. Opinions on that? Is it a good or bad idea? I'm doing debate, so I'm hoping my schedule isn't too hectic, I'm just so far ahead of my original schedule for this, I really am. **

**See you next week!**

**1/28/12 *Crashing points***


	9. Crashing Points

**Don't get mad with me, but I'm not doing a double upload. Why? Because nobody gave me an opinion or not on the last chapter if I should or not. Plus I'm having too much fun with the Ipad the school provided, sure I don't have any 'fun' apps on it. but I have written the plot to this story on that Ipad and well… there's some twists I hope you guys wont hate me for… maybe you like surprises instead! Lets just leave it at that. **

**Enjoy! **

* * *

Chapter 8

Crashing points

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

Lee was knocking on Asuka's door in the morning, more than eager to do their match today against a weapon he hasn't seen before. 'Kunai claws' she called it. Yesterday was a bit tense for Lee, he didn't know if he had to step in-between Asuka and Neji before the fight or not. He will admit though what Neji said to Asuka the other day was pretty offensive, "_It's not like a girl could be much of a problem anyway."_ Lee respects any shinobi, whether the person be a male or female, short or tall, smart or dumb, fat or skinny, etc. He'll respect any opponent.

Hatsuharu answered the door as always. "Is Asuka awake yet?" Lee asked.

He shook his head no and let him in his house anyways. Lee nodded and entered. He's been in their house a couple of times, only when he had to take her home because of something he did or she was hurt from training again.

Hatsuharu led him to Asuka's room to she was still fast asleep wearing her cream colored tank top and blue short-shorts. Half of her body was under the sheets, and her leg was hanging off the bed. Yup! She was well rested.

"Do you want me to wake her up?" Lee asked.

Hatsuharu shrugged his shoulders as he did his final attempt to wake her up. Throwing her up against a wall. It worked about 75% of the time, if that didn't work, he'd give up for an hour and attempt later. Biting on her ankle, she groaned and turned around, but he held his grip on her and readied himself. Then he twisted his head, slinging her into… out the window.

Lee's jaw dropped to the ground and his eyes shot up wide. "THAT!? That's your solution?!" Lee questioned him.

Hatsuharu was just as shocked as Lee was. But he shook it off and jumped out of the four story window after her. Lee followed and saw a dent on a side of a building, and down on the ground, was Asuka, her body face down.

"H-Hatsuharu…" Asuka spoke, "I miss the good old days, to ware you'd just spit cold water in my face and I'd wake up." She groaned as rubbed her shoulder and sat up. "Yeah… those were the good days." She started to laugh the pain away. "Oh, hi Lee," she waved at him, trying to keep her eyes open, "it's a good morning don't yah think?" Hatsuharu got her on his back and jumped back up to the building, Lee followed again, but this time. Hatsuharu shoved him out of Asuka's room to get her ready for the day.

Lee sighed and left her house, deciding to go for a run before sparing with her today. For all he knew, she could be her random-fun self today, whom will make him blush by doing cute stuff to him.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

After his run, he saw Neji on a roof, just sight seeing it looked like, so he smiled and decided to join his teammate.

"Hello Neji!" Lee acknowledged before sitting down next to him.

Neji sighed, "Hi Lee."

"Hey, could I ask you a question?" Lee asked.

"It's not how my Byakugan works again is it?" he questioned annoyingly.

"No, I've got that in my notes." He smiled before continuing, knowing he wont smile back. "What exactly did you say to her before getting to the training grounds yesterday? It's very hard to make her mad, you must have said something to set her off."

Neji sighed more and slumped his shoulders, letting his eyelids half-way close. "I was merely sharing my opinion with her, and she got mad and refused to punch me at first it looked, then quickly change the conversation. When we got to the training grounds, I didn't mean to say that last part, actually, before we started sparing."

"The 'girl' thing?"

"Yeah, that part." He continued to look down and let his feet dangle off the edge.

"Why didn't you apologize?" Lee asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Because before I knew it, she was challenging me, and I didn't want to at the time."

"She is a teammate, **our**teammate Neji!" Lee stated. "Therefore, we need to treat our teammates with the respect they deserve."

"So, it's not too late for an apology?" Neji asked.

Lee patted his shoulder, "It's never too late." He gave him a warm smile.

"Don't touch me." Lee took back his hand before Neji 'bit it off'.

Lee glazed the area and saw the only black and purple spot in it, it was Asuka with Hatsuharu behind her. "Hey! There's Asuka now, why don't you go say your apologies now?"

Neji saw her easily and grunted as he hopped off the building, a few feet away from her. She looked over at him for a split second, but broke the gaze by walking off to the training grounds.

"Asuka!" Neji called after her, "Wait, I want to talk to you."

She stiffened her shoulders as she turned around, never meeting his gaze. "Yes Neji?"

He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday, about a girl not being much of a problem. And I'm not apologizing for my opinions, I'm just saying sorry for making you mad." He kept staring at her with anticipation, pleading her to look back at him without saying it.

She relaxed her shoulders and smiled. She hugged him unexpectedly, he just raised his arms, showing he's not hugging back. "I forgive you Neji, sorry I snapped yesterday."

He relaxed too and gently-awkwardly hugged her back before letting go.

"So… were good?" Neji asked.

"Yeah, were good." She gave him her warm smile, "But, I do want you to be my rival."

He gave her a questioning look, "What?"

"Yeah, you know, egg each other on, make each other stronger without knowing it, that stuff." She replied.

"How do I 'egg you on" exactly?"

"Make me mad like you did yesterday, but don't mean it."

"Ok then…" he looked away, still confused why she asked that before walking with her to the training grounds with Lee behind them.

"Lee! Asuka!" Guy shouted, "Are you two ready to spar?"

They both nodded their heads. "Yes Guy sensei!" they both said.

"Good, you know what to do." Guy insisted.

They both go to the opposite sides of the field, facing each other from a long distance.

"On 'go' the battle will begin." He said.

Asuka readied herself, getting in her fighting position, ready to unfold her plan.

"Three!"

Hatsuharu smiled, showing his canine teeth aggressively.

"Two!"

Lee got in his fighting position, having one arm tucked by his side and the other out in front of him.

"One!"

"Good luck Lee." Asuka said.

"Same to you Asuka." Lee responded.

"Go!"

Within an instant, Lee had vanished from her eye sight and appeared right behind her. He kicked her in the shoulder to only find a puff of smoke and little wooden log had taken her place. Hatsuharu took the opportunity and bit his shin, throwing him across the field back to where he started.

Lee stuck the landing, only sliding a yard or two before stopping. He turned around to see Asuka finishing a hand signal. "Water style, hammer jutsu!" a wave of water from the puddles left yesterday smashed Lee in his rib cage area, sending him back a couple more yards back.

Lee just smirked, shrugging off the surprise. "Very impressive Asuka," Lee commented, "but how are you with no surprises!" he vanished again, appearing right in front of her. "Leaf whirlwind!" he did a fast, low sweep, knocking her off her feet for a split second before hitting her again. "Leaf hurricane!" he spun in the air towards her, kicking her back to a tree, leaving a little indention to it.

"Not bad Lee," she said as she whipped the blood from her lip, "but I'm not done yet." Hatsuharu came out of the ground and bit Lee in his torso area, making sure he cant escape, he vigorously shook his head. "Fling him Hatsuharu!" with her command, he threw Lee up in the air, she took out her kunai claws not to puncture, but to grab. She swung the chain around Lee's waist and started throwing him everywhere; crashing him into the trees and the ground. Before she could finish though, he got out of her chain grip and kicked her upwards, sending her high in the air, facing the sky.

Before she knew it, Lee was right behind her, wrapping his bandages around her. "Primary lotus!" he made them spin so fast, everything was just a mix of colors before she hit head first into the ground and Lee letting go of her, jumping back to avoid being hit by the debris.

She was groaning, her head was still spinning. "Don't I get hit in the head enough?" she sat up, holding and rubbing her tender head. "Good work Lee, you took me by surprise."

He walked over to her, offering her a hand. "You took me by many surprises yourself; I thought I should return the favor."

She laughed before taking his hand and helping her up. "So I cant do frontal assaults, I can only go by surprises it looks like." She looked away, scratching the back of her head.

"Don't worry Asuka," Guy supported, patting her back, "We'll help you get better." He smiled, making her feel better about herself.

"For the power of youth is within us all!" she shouted with her fists in the air, fire blazing in her eyes.

"Exactly!" Guy shouted, putting his fist in the air, followed by Lee, all of them having fire in their eyes.

Neji crossed his arms and looked away, "You are all ignorant fools."

* * *

**Hey guys! What did you think? Asuka is the weakest in the group apparently… but she is great with surprises, and she walked away from a primary lotus like she just got bumped in the head? Dang… I'm loving her more and more each chapter. **

**Review please! And maybe I'll post more chapters if there are some reviews given, because they just give me so much inspiration! They really do :) **

**See you next week!**

**February 4, *C Rank* **


	10. C Rank

**I'm too nice sometimes… I said I'd do the double upload, so I'm keeping my word and doing it. Please tell me next time though if something's a good idea or not k? I love getting reviews, it warms my heart and inspires me, it really does. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 9

C Rank

The Hokage called Team Guy to his office, giving them their mission for the day.

"Do you believe you are ready for the mission given today?" the Hokage asked all four of them.

"Yes, we are ready." Guy answered.

"Not to be disrespectful Guy, but I wish to hear this from your students." He gestured to Neji, Asuka, and Lee.

"Of course." Neji replied.

"Yes sir!" Asuka stated, straightening her stance.

Lee saluted, "I am ready."

"Good, I will be giving you a C ranked mission today, an escort, I believe you are ready." He smiled at them all, giving all of them great confidence being trusted with a C rank mission, usually given to chunin or jonin.

Guy smiled, "Thank you sir! Who will we be escorting?"

"A merchant outside the gate, he will be escorted to an inn along the path, not too far from here, just a few miles." He stated.

"We won't fail you Hokage." Guy smiled before being dismissed with his team.

They got to the gate to see the merchant waiting for them. He didn't look old, probably around in his thirties, he had fair skin and brown eyes with straight shoulder length jet black hair. He was wearing a simple merchant uniform, a white robe with light brown sandals and carrying a fairly large pack with him. "So, you're the team who'll be escorting me?" he asked timidly.

"Yes we are, you seem scared?" Guy stated.

"Oh, I-Im not, it's just my nature." He showed a weak smile. "Shall we get going?"

Guy nodded, letting the merchant lead and his escort following behind. The escort wasn't hard; the walking was the only 'hard' part if you're feeling generous. No thieves of any sort to come by, it was boring. Guy noticed this, and thought of something to cheer everyone up.

"Hey, for a job well done, how about I take you guys to a bar that isn't too far from here?" Guy offered with a big grin.

Neji and Asuka shrugged their shoulders, not caring where Guy takes them. Lee happily nodded his head.

"Good! Follow me my youthful students!" Guy led the way.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Guy was nice and decided to treat them to lunch, buying anything that wasn't too expensive, everyone got water, except Guy, he got a drink Asuka has not heard of or seen yet, but she ignored it, figured it would be another 'adult' drink, and happily drank her water as she ate her sweet rice and dumplings.

Asuka had a quick glance at Lee carelessly drinking something that wasn't his, "Lee, that's not yours."

He gave her a questioning look, "What do you mean," his eyes got lazy and were droopy, his face smeared with blush, "It tastes just… f-fine." He fell off his chair and started walking around without a care in the world.

"Guy, what's wrong with Lee?" she asked her sensei.

Guy turned to see Lee breaking stuff by either accident or on purpose, he can't tell right now. "Lee! Stop that!" he got off of his chair and tried to restrain Lee, but he easily knocked his sensei off, throwing him onto a table.

Lee then kicked the chair out from under Asuka and accidentally caught her. He looked at her with lazy eyes, "Oh, h-hi Asuka!" he said drunkenly, "How are you? Y-you know what, I wanna hug." He gave her a bear hug, trapping her arms at her said as he squeezed her waist, lifting her off the ground.

_I should be enjoying this but it hurts! _She choked on her breath, trying to breath, hearing popping and cracking on her arms and ribs. Her mouth was gapping, trying to scream in pain, but her lungs wouldn't let her remove anymore air. Her face was turning a pale white. _I can't breath because of my best friend?! He's crushing everything in my body right now. _"N-Neji… h-help." she squeaked out in pain. He was squeezing tighter and tighter by the second.

With the help of Guy and Neji, they pried his arms off of her. Relieved, filling her burning lungs with cool air, she stood back up to feel that her arms are fractured, not broken. Her vision was a bit blurry though due to the lack of oxygen and blood to her head. She was trying to regain her senses, all the voices around her were just echoes. She blinked a few times to see that Lee was coming at her again, punching her in the chest, sending her flying out of the bar, through several trees, and finally a boulder breaking her landing.

Her body was face down on the ground, trying to get up, but her chest was hurting so bad, her body wouldn't allow her to get up. She only saw colors now, moving, and blurry colors. A giant grey blob was next to her, barking and whimpering. Hatsuharu. He was trying to help her up, but her arms still refused to work with her.

A green blob picked her up, not over its shoulders, but cradled her like a baby, trying not to worsen her injury. She couldn't understand a word they were saying, but a white blob was carrying another green blob. _Neji must be carrying Lee, and Guy must be carrying me._ Now that she was safe, she let herself drift off to sleep.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

After half way home, Lee sobered up and Neji let go of him. Lee stretched, looked at his surroundings to find Asuka in his sensei's arms out cold. "What's wrong with Asuka?" Hatsuharu glared at him, growling menacingly, charging after him only to be caught on the scruff of the neck by Neji. "What's wrong Hatsuharu!?" Lee shocked to see him lounge after him like that.

"You don't remember anything?" Neji said as he struggled to keep Hatsuharu down.

"No, what happened?" Lee asked frantically.

Guy sighed, "Lee, you drank some of my sake and started breaking everything in sight. You hugged Asuka so hard her back, arms, and ribs are injured. While she was trying to recover from that, you punched her in the chest, sending her out of the bar and into a boulder, crushing her breast bone." Guy's eyes were filled with sorrow, seeing one of his youthful students in his arms like this, because of his most youthful student.

Lee's eyes were wide with shock, his mouth gaping trying to find the words to say _what have I done?_ He looked at the angry, loyal gray wolf trying to get loose of Neji's grip to chew his face off. "Hatsuharu," he knelt down, looking straight at the ground, "I am sorry I hurt your companion, Asuka, when she wakes, I vow not to do anything as foolish to her ever again. I am forever apologetic to you, and Asuka, will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me when she wakes and recovers?" he kept his head down, hearing Hatsuharu not fighting against Neji's grip anymore.

He was waiting for it, for Hatsuharu to bite his head off and use it as a chew toy for as long as he liked. He felt the breathing of Hatsuharu on his head, smelling his, strangely clean, warm dog breath. He tensed his shoulders, just waiting for it, cringing his teeth as he gripped his knees.

Hatsuharu licked Lee's face, getting him to look up at the dog as he nuzzled his nose in Lee's arms. He hugged him, about to be in tears, never thinking Hatsuharu would do this after accidentally hurting his companion like that.

"You forgive me then?" Lee asked impishly. Hatsuharu shook his head and grinned, he could never hate Asuka's best friend.

"Lee, we really need to go." Guy stated, "Asuka's in pretty bad condition.

Lee saluted, "Yes sensei!" they started their walk back to the leaf village again. Lee finally had time to think to himself. He seemed content with everything, but really, he was beating himself up on the inside, blaming himself for every injury he caused to his beloved friend, Asuka.

_How could I have done this to her? Why her of all people!? Why couldn't it have been someone else, anyone else besides her who got hurt by my reckless strength! I will make this up to her somehow, but how?... I know! I'll stay by her side till she's able to do things on her own again, that's how I'll do it! If she needs ANYTHING I will not hesitate to do. _He sighed, having a plan to himself to repay his dept back to her.

Looking at her again, he realized how **weak **she looked, her dark purple hair was a tangled mess as it hung out of his sensei's arms. No sign of movement in her head, arms, or legs, just slight breathing. Her clothes slightly ripped here and there. If it wasn't for her chest slightly moving with each little breath she took, he would have thought they were carrying a dead person back for a burial.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

The sun shied out of its hiding place, letting its rays of sunlight and warmth meet with the cold ground of Konoha; shining though Asuka's room window and over her blanket covered body. Her eyes batted awake, everything was so bright and yet dark at first, trying to get her eyes to adjust; she rubbed them and yawned. As she tried stretching, she realized her arms were in braces; meaning her arms are nearly healed, but not close enough for her. She tried to sit up but ended up crying out in pain as she couldn't even support her own weight.

A friendly, familiar wet warmth met her face. "Hey Hatsuharu," she petted her companion's head as he continued to lick her face, "you're a sight for sore eyes boy." She giggled but cringed, it hurt to breath, and it even hurts to laugh now.

She sighed, her companion whimpered, only imagining how much pain she must be in. he laid his head down over her stomach, not putting all of his weight on her. She smiled and petted him more, watching his tail wag.

**Knock. Knock. Knock. **

A nurse gently opened the door, a smile spread across her face to see her patient finally awake. "Good morning!" she chirped. "The doctors didn't think you'd be awake by now." Her small framed body glided across the floor and into a chair next to Asuka, pulling out a clipboard as her flimsy light brown, jaw length hair framed her heart shaped face. She looked back at Asuka with her big hazel eyes. "I'll be answering some questions for you, but first I'll answer the basics." She put on her reading glasses and cleared her throat. "You've been here for 15 days now, knocked out cold by your partner, Rock Lee. He gave you a concussion and unfortunately you slipped into a coma. Your breast bone was shattered, arms fractured, five ribs broken, four cracked, and your spine cracked in several vertebrae, luckily though, your not paralyzed. Your injuries will heal in time and we have already done the surgery necessary on your heart and lungs for you to live. What happened was that bone fragments from your breast bone got into your heart and lungs, luckily again they weren't lodged in, just stuck like a sticker. You should heal completely in six to eight weeks, you'll be out of here in a week, and we expect you to do no training what so ever until you heal. Understood?" she looked back at her with a big grin on her face. Like this is the first time she's done this or she just LOVES her job.

Asuka swallowed the lump in her throat. "Thank you, where is my team now?"

"Rock Lee should be here any minute, he's visited you everyday, checking on you, making sure you didn't do worse after the operation." She gleefully replied

"If you don't mind nurse, I want some time to comprehend this before Lee shows up." She slightly grinned with hurt eyes.

The nurse blinked a few times before nodding and leaving the room, leaving the door cracked open.

She sighed and looked over to Hatsuharu. "When will this end?"

He shyly smiled and wagged his tail.

"You don't know either." She stared up at the ceiling. "Great."

The door creaked open; a bandaged hand led the way and opened the door wider. Lee was instantly filled with joy, jittering by just the sight of his friend finally awake after weeks of visiting. He had his arms wide about to give her a warm hug but hesitated. Sadness filled his eyes as he lowered his head and looked away. "I am sorry Asuka," he choked out, "I am sorry for hurting you like this, I am sorry that I even bruised a bone in your body, I am sorry I made scars on your head, will you ever forgive me?" he put his hands behind his back, still looking away, not wanting to see the damages he'd done to her.

Her eyes were wide at first, but softened after seeing Lee like this. "If you hug me gently, I will."

He wiped away his tears as he raised his head and smiled. He gently dug his arms under her shoulders, raising her slightly as he laid his chin on her shoulder. She wrapped her braced arms below his shoulder blades as he gently squeezed her. Laying her back down slowly, he kissed her forehead and blushed lightly.

She giggled then cringed as she laid her arm over her chest, trying to bare the pain.

"You ok?" he asked.

She gave him a warm smile, "Lee, that hug hurt, but I enjoyed every second of it. And that's the first time you kissed me anywhere on the face, I'm astonished."

His eyes glistened with happiness, "If you need anything Asuka, just say the word and I'll do it." he saluted to her, straightening his back and puffing out his chest.

A memory flashed through her, her eyes shocked, wide open in this. "What about the chunin exams?! Are you guys going to enter or has it already happened?"

"Oh… about that," he scratched the back of his head and looked away, "Guy said 'if one of us can't enter, then none of us will' don't worry though," his smile came back as he lifted his head again, "we'll enter next year, we'll be stronger by then, guaranteeing us being chunins next year." He gave her the 'good guy' pose.

"Lee, I'll never understand your confidence, but I always get filled with joy when you're like this. So, alright, we'll be chunins next year." She smiled at him.

Two more people walked in, "Geez, finally you're awake!" Naruto blurted out.

"I know right?" Kiba agreed, "It seems like it's been forever since we've seen her awake." Akamaru barked happily and hopped off his head, landing on Asuka's chest.

"GET AKAMARU OFF OF ME!" Asuka cried out in pain.

Kiba spazed out and quickly scooped Akamaru off of her, shoving him in his gray jacket. Akamaru's head just popped out and barked. "I am so sorry Asuka." He raised his hands in defense and started to back away as Hatsuharu growled and advanced on him.

"Hatsuharu!" Asuka said, Hatsuharu sat down and glared at him, "I'm sure Akamaru didn't mean it okay?" she petted her companion, easing his tension.

* * *

**Alright, I have a proposal, for my followers and reviewers, if this story reaches up to 15 reviews, then I will upload the next chapter the next day. Unless it's on a Wednesday, that's church night, meaning less likely of me actually uploading something that night. Other than that, it should be good. **

**Remember, if this story gets 15 reviews or more, I will upload the next chapter, the next day. **

**Hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**NOW I'll maybe see you next week! **

**February 4 (I have the title of the next chapter, but if I tell you it would probably spoil it… so yah)**


	11. November 29

**Alright Guys, I'm sorry I didn't update the other day. I really am, I was sick with a stomach virus and my mom wouldn't let me near the computer… so yah. And to make it up to you, I shall do a double upload! I just hope I don't die, because next week is still going to be double upload week…**

**Enjoy!**

**Edit: I did some serious... simple math in my head, and Lee is actually turning twelve, so... Yah, my bad, now enjoy :)**

**Edit (again): sorry :( but I did some more math in my head, and as it turns out, he's 13... My bad**

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Chapter 10

November 29

It seemed like the week flew by as quick and lightly as cool air during winter. Asuka didn't 'demand' much out of Lee, just a few things here and there to keep her occupied. When she was finally released from the hospital, her arms fully healed and her chest and back didn't hurt too much, just enough to refuse to train with Lee, just watch and support. Lee still offered his assistance until she healed, which she didn't really need because Hatsuharu was around to carry her, but he still insisted to help. So she finally took him up on that offer for this specific day.

"Keep my headband on." Asuka ordered to Lee as she tied it around his eyes.

"What is this for?" he asked.

"Nothing, just for fun." she giggled as she held his hand and led him down a path.

"I don't understand your logic." He sighed and let his head hang.

"And I don't understand why you take notes of Guy sensei's advice." She countered.

"Because he is the most wisest and youthful sensei ever!" he cheerfully said as he held his fist in the air and jumped.

She giggled more, holding her chest as the pain started to set in again. _Why does this have to happen now!? _She sighed and shoved the pain down. _Just a little further, just a few more yards and we're there._

She opened the door and gently pushed Lee in the room, turning the light on and closing the door behind her. She left to get what she needed and let Hatsuharu take off Lee's blindfold.

"Tada!" she struck a pose and Hatsuharu did a pose of his own, showing a big dinner in her home. "Happy Birthday Lee!" she hugged him happily around his neck. He hugged her around her waist and spun her around.

"Asuka! You shouldn't have." He smiled and his eyes sparkled at all the food she cooked for, mostly him.

"Go ahead and dig in, but don't pass out, I have other things planned." She poked him in the stomach and gave him a toothy grin.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Asuka, you're a good cook!" Lee complimented. "How do you do it?"

She scratched the back of her head, "Well, that guy who owns the ramen shop taught me a few things." She sheepishly smiled at him as she opened the door. "C'mon, I have other things planned."

"As you wish." He exited her apartment with Asuka following shortly catching up to him, leaving Hatsuharu behind.

_Gah! The pain! I have to hold out! I can't let Lee know I'm hurting again, or he'll want to call it a day for me, it's barely night for crying out loud! I have to hold out, I just have to. _She took a few silent deep breaths and made sure Lee didn't notice her like that. _With it being cold like this, it's not helping._

She briefly did a smug look before wiping it off her face. It hasn't snowed yet, but it has been getting below freezing sometimes, hopefully tonight isn't one of those nights. She untied her head band that was around her neck and tied it around Lee's eyes again.

"We're doing this again?" he asked.

"Yup! Another surprise." She cheerfully said.

He smiled, "I'm starting to like your little surprises." She held his hand and led him again.

She took him into the forest, leading him to the place she went when she wanted to sketch, or just be alone for a while. The pain in her chest and back turned to be unbearable now; shoving down the pain isn't going to help this time. Thankfully though, they arrived at her secret place. She laid him down on the plush, long, thick green grass and took off her head band, putting back around her neck where it belonged.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around to see they were in a clearing, a field with no trees around them; the trees were a couple of 10's yards away from them. She laid down beside him, about a foot away.

"Asuka, why did you take me here?" he questioned.

"Isn't it lovely? The grass here is soft to lay on." she brushed the grass, letting it slide between her fingers.

"It is quite beautiful, but what's the purpose besides viewing?"

"Look up." She pointed up. Thousands, millions of stars were brightly showing, a full moon was lighting everything up. The sky was clear, the breeze wasn't too fast or too cold. "Have you ever star gazed? I sometimes do it alone, so I thought I might take you here to join me."

He smiled and looked up, letting his eyes fill with the stars' beauty. "I am honored Asuka."

A cool breeze blew and she shivered; rubbing her arms to try to keep warm.

"You cold?" he asked, "Come here." He scooted over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders, brining her close and letting her head lay on his chest. She slightly blushed, but buried her face into his arm as she let her leg cross one of his. "What's wrong?" he rubbed his hand on her waist and moved the hair away from her eyes with the other.

"It's nothing, keep looking at the stars." She laid an arm over his chest, placing a hand near his collar bone and grasping his spandex suit in the rib cage area with her other hand, still trying to burry her face.

He gave her a questioning look before borrowing his free hand into the side of her face, grasping her chin and making her look up at him. Her whole face was nearly red, her pupils were nearly out of sight, and her irises were smaller than usual. She was embarrassed beyond belief.

"You're blushing? And I made YOU blush?" he chuckled, "The tables have finally turned huh?" he leaned in, letting the tip of their noses touch. "As one of the birthday boy's wishes, don't ever hide your face when you blush, your too adorable to do that."

She was about to hide her face again, but she did as he said and didn't. Instead, she just laid her head on his chest again, sighing as she nuzzled into his chest. "Okay, you're going to have to remind me though."

He put his arm behind his head and gently pulled her closer to him. "No problem."

_Lee's actually being… flirty. Wait a minute! What's going on?! Usually he starts blushing by now and I blush later!_ "Are you Rock Lee?" she asked jokingly.

"Excuse me?"

"Are you Rock Lee? If you are, then you're acting different… I like it."

"Of course I'm Rock Lee… how do I know your not who you say you are huh?" he gently tugged on her hair and held her closer, not letting her escape his grasp.

She laughed loudly and started to tickle his rib cage. "Who's the faker now?"

He desperately held in his laughter and grabbed a hold of both of her wrists then rolled on top of her, pinning her down. "Looks like you lose Asuka."

"I'll get you next time Lee, just you wait!" she gave him a devilish smile; pain struck through her upper body. _The pain… I can't hold it in anymore… I just can't!_ She tried to muzzle her mouth shut, but it did work. Her body started shivering in pain as she tried holding in her screams.

"Asuka? What's wrong?" Lee got off of her and propped her body up. Her spine was in more pain than she imagined. She screamed as Lee's gentle touch made contact with her body. He flinched, hesitating to do anything else to her. "Asuka?! Your scaring me, why didn't you say anything about your condition?" he got her onto his back, letting one of her arms drape over his shoulder and her head lay on his other one.

"I didn't want to ruin your birthday Lee, I wanted to make you happy." She gently breathed, trying not to cause any more pain to her chest.

"Well, doing this didn't help either." He stated.

"I know, and I'm sorry."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm more disappointed that you didn't say anything."

"Lee, is there one last wish you'd like to make before carrying me all the way back home?"

He stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. A few minutes past before he said anything. "Yes, when I ask you out on a date, you can't say no, unless there is a good reason, like you or Hatsuharu are deathly ill or something." He looked at her through the corner of his eye.

She nodded, "I can do that." She smiled warmly and kissed his temple.

"There's something I want to ask you, if you don't mind." he sounded a bit unsure.

"I don't mind at all Lee."

He took a deep breath and exhaled, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Where does our relationship stand? I know you say we're friends, but I keep getting mixed signs from you." Blush spread across his cheeks; he shook it off and continued. "You kiss me nearly everywhere on my face, and kissed my hand that one time I got stitches. You make me feel… fluffy around you."

She snuggled closer to him, rubbing her cheek on his neck, "Lee-"

"Let me finish please." That was the first time he EVER interrupted her when he was being serious on a subject.

She nodded her head and let him continue.

"I-I get nervous sometimes, when you hug me and tell me what's wrong when you get depressed and cry about your memory loss. I don't know what to do, but whatever I do, it seems to work more than half of the time, and I don't understand why. Then that one time I got depressed, believing I couldn't be the shinobi I've always dreamed of being, you always seem to be able to pick me right back up, making me believe again." Tears started to form in his eyes, she wiped them away for him, letting him go on. "Then when we were younger and there was a storm, you'd always stay at my place, or you invite me to yours, and we'd sleep in the same bed. We'd cuddle and tell stories about our youth." He took another deep breath and sighed. "I wanted to know, are we just friends? Or are we something more?"

She had also wondered this too, at times when Lee would make her feel better just by being there for her and listening. To her, kissing someone on the cheek was just a sign of friendship. A kiss on the forehead meant they cared, on the nose means their cute, the temple meant she was listening, on the chin meant she wanted them with her. If Lee feels mixed emotions about her, what will she do? They're on the same team for crying out loud! What would Guy sensei think?! How would Neji see their "destiny" end up at? Then it struck her.

She took a deep breath, "Lee, I'm only eleven, and you just turned thirteen, don't you think… we're a bit 'young' for… dating, or love?"

He lowered his head, "Your right." He choked out. He started to try to laugh it off. "We are too young huh? Sorry about that."

She placed a hand on his cheek. "No Lee, don't be sorry, I too have been wondering this for some time now, thank you for helping me clarify my feelings." She gave him a warm smile. "Maybe when we're older, and a bit more mature we can sort this out, how does that sound?"

He gave her a sympathetic smile, "That sounds wonderful." He looked up to find no glimmering stars out, but thick gray clouds covering them. "Looks like it's going to rain, better hang on." He tightened his grip on her legs and hopped onto the nearest tree and darted out of the woods; exiting from them, then jumping from roof to roof until he reached her place. He knocked on the door with his foot and Hatsuharu answered it in seconds. He let them in and it started to douse the village with heavy rain drops. He set her down in her bed, taking off her sandals for her and covering her body with the comforter before kissing her forehead.

She grabbed his hand, "Wait, Lee, if you go out there, you'll get sick, stay here tonight."

He blinked a few times in shock before answering, "If you insist, I'll sleep on the couch."

She didn't let go of his hand, "Lee, we used to sleep in the same bed when we were kids, what's the difference now?" she gave him a warm, puppy-dog smile. Lee felt guilty when she gave him that smile.

"Fine, as you wish." He crawled into bed with her, taking off his leg warmers/weights and sandals before getting under the comforter. "You cold?"

She nodded, "Yah, my feet are freezing."

"Let me see if I can't do anything about that." They snuggled, Asuka slept on Lee's arm; their legs intertwined and he was holding her close, making sure never to let her go.

Usually Hatsuharu slept with her when it rained like this, but he let his jealousy slide for his companion, and slept on the couch for the night.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_It was dark, cold, with strangely thick eerie air that struck a chill down her spine. "Hello?" she called out, "Anybody here?" she looked around, but couldn't even see her hand right in front of her face. "Hatsuharu?! Lee, Naruto, Kiba?! Any of you here?" she kept frantically looking around for her dear friends, with no sign of them, she sat down and held her knees to her chest. "Am I alone?" she sighed. She cradled herself, rocking back and forth, taking deep breaths to calm down. She heard mumbling in the distance, "Hello?! Anybody there?!" the room seemed to light up a bit, able to at least see a few feet ahead of herself._

_"I'm here, Asuka." A tall, lanky boy with white hair that covered his whole face except his mouth, skin nearly white as fresh snow, voice raspy and hard to understand._

_She swallowed the lump in her throat, "W-who are you?"_

_The boy got down on his knees, sitting beside her and putting an arm around her waist, holding her close. He smelled horrible, worse than month old milk and rotten eggs mixed together. The hair in front of his face moved to the side, revealing a face with patches of skin missing, showing veins and muscle throughout his face. The white in his eyes were replaced with charcoal black, and the irises were orange. "You're loving brother, dear sister, YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!" he bit and tore at her face, muzzling her screams for help._

_Within seconds, she was close to death, the skin on her face nearly completely gone, her so called "brother" stood over her near lifeless body. "Why… are you doing this to me… brother?"_

_He curdled a laugh, "Don't worry sis, this will all be over soon." He raised a kunai, aiming for her heart. "DIE!"_

She shot up out of her bed, her face sweating and near hyperventilating. She held her chest, it still hurt. Lee shot up too, looking horrified.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She took a deep breath before lying back down. "I just had a nightmare." Her eyes were wide with shock, adrenaline pumped through her veins as she tried to calm down by gripping onto the sheets.

Lee scooted closer to her, setting her upper body to lay her head in his lap. "Tell me about." he brushed the hair away from her face and got a tissue and then wiped the sweat from her face.

"It was horrible, I was alone in this dark room for what seemed like ages, with no one around me. Then this man, claimed to be my brother, but he looked like… a dead person, but alive. He ate my face and I was nearly dead, he was about to deliver the final blow, then I woke up." She looked into Lee's eyes, he was listening. "What do you think?"

He smiled, trying to brighten the mood, "Glad that didn't actually happen."

She awkwardly giggled, looking away "Yah…"

"Hey," he stroked her collar bone, "don't worry, it was only a dream, that probably wont ever happen, and if it does, I'll be there for you." he held her hand, they intertwined fingers and laughed together.

"Your right, I'm still tired." She got out of his lap and lay back onto her pillow.

"Me too, I was trying to wake you up when you were breathing really hard." He lay down next to her, getting back into their snuggling position.

"You were?"

"Yah, if I hadn't of moved out of the way in time, I think you would have broken my nose."

She lightly punched his chest, he chuckled before settling down. "Whatever Lee." She kissed his chest, snuggling closer to him as he kissed the crown of her head and rested his chin on top of her head.

* * *

**Alright, you know what to do. Review, tell me what you think please and thank you.**

**This might get on your nerves… but I was planning on Asuka and Lee to have their first kiss here, but then I though "Nah, I'll wait till later."… don't kill me.**

**Reminder: if this story get's a total of 15 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day.**

**I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**Chapter 11 *Unexpected Invitations***


	12. Unexpected Invitations

**Well… this chapter made me laugh a lot, and I had to flip a coin whether to do one funny thing on here or not… and I'm proud of it now. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 11

Unexpected Invitations

"Naruto! Wait for me!"

"Quiet Asuka!" Kiba scolded. "You're going to mess this up!"

"Both of you shut your traps!" Naruto demanded. "I got this, believe it!"

They poked their head out from atop the roof, staring down at their dark haired target.

"You got the stuff?" Asuka asked.

"Dude, the stuff is everywhere, there's unlimited ammo, of course I got it." Naruto said as he palmed the item.

"Don't over shoot it." Kiba reassured.

"I got this! Believe it!" he whispered-shouted at him as he held the object above the target's head, about ten feet above it.

"Come on Naruto, let it go before he moves." Asuka said.

He nodded his head, and dropped the item on their target, it splattered all over his head.

"What the…" the target rubbed his head and looked at the contents. "A snowball?" he looked around, even above him to see nobody there. "What a drag." The target put his hands behind his head and started walking away.

"Hurry Naruto! He's getting away!" Asuka shook Naruto's arms while whispering again.

"I got this." Kiba said as he picked up the bucket of snow and jumped at the target, putting the giant bucket of snow on top of the target, dumping the snow all over him.

"What the heck!?" he pulled the bucket off his head to see Naruto and Kiba running away.

Asuka started jogging and waving at him. "Thanks for being a great participant Shikamaru!" she winked at him and ran away.

Shikamaru sighed and kicked the bucket. "What a pain." He mumbled to himself before walking back into his house to change clothes.

"Who's next?" Asuka asked as she caught up with Naruto and Kiba.

"I don't know, what do you think Akamaru?" Kiba asked.

Akamaru popped his head out of Kiba's jacket and barked happily.

"I don't think he'll join." Asuka answered him.

"Since when do you speak dog?" Naruto asked irritably.

She gave him a stern look _idiot_.

"Oh, right, you got that dog with you all the time!" Naruto figured out.

"I got it! Follow me." Asuka ordered as she quickened her pace, getting ahead of them.

Naruto and Kiba gave each other questioning looks and followed her anyway.

"Look, totally defenseless." She pointed out the next target from the roof.

"Him? Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Positive." She answered.

"Wont he get mad?" Kiba asked.

"He'll get over it." she answered. "Now shush and watch the master work." She looked over his target, reading his favorite book. _The worst I'll do is probably ruin his precious book._ She thought as she dropped the snowball on his head.

The target looked around, seeing nobody, but he heard snickering from above him, so he quickly got up there and stood over Asuka. "What do you think you're doing Asuka?"

"Nothing Kakashi sensei!" she squeaked out as she scratched the back of her head.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Yes sensei! It was merely an accident!" she saluted to him.

He arched an eyebrow at her, seeing through her lie, and was distracted long enough for Asuka's water clone to shove snow down his suit. His eye shot opened and reached for his back. "Cold! Cold! Cold! Cold!"

"Run!" Asuka yelled out as she got ahead of them.

"Hey! Wait up!" Naruto yelled after her.

"Asuka!" Kiba yelled too.

Kakashi chuckled and let the snow melt on his warm back. "If that's how you want to play it, bring it on." he vanished into a puff of smoke.

"I think we lost him." Asuka called out to them, right before she face planted into something soft and cold then fell over on top of it. "What the heck! Who puts a snowman in the middle of the street?!"

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke. "Correction, who drops a snowman on top of somebody?" he pointed up while smiling.

"What the…" she looked up to see another snowman falling its way down to her. "You've got to be-" the other snowman landed on top of her, making a snowman sandwich. Her arms and legs were twitching, she finally bursted out; shivering and sneezing, trying to keep herself warm.

Kakashi knelt down next to her. "Now, what did you learn today?"

She sneezed before answering. "D-don't throw a s-snowball at Ka-Kakashi sensei." She sneezed again.

He put a hand on the crown of her head, "Exactly." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kiba and Naruto were laughing their butts off, rolling on the ground, trying not to cry of laughter.

Asuka gave them a death glare, but they didn't see, that's when an interesting idea shot thru her head; an evil grin spread across her face as she got up and walked to them. "You guys think it's funny?"

"Are you kidding?! It's hilarious!" Naruto answered.

"Yeah! What he said." Kiba complied as he held his gut.

Asuka started laughing with them, "Yeah, it is pretty funny huh?"

Kiba and Naruto nodded without looking at her.

"Then you know what's really funny? THIS!" she did some hand signs, "Water style, snow wave jutsu!"

The snow melded to her command, and went after Naruto and Kiba. Their eyes shot wide and their laughter stopped. They tried getting away, but the wave got them first and swept them away.

Asuka brushed her hands together and grinned. "That takes care of them, now to continue with the pranking mercenary style." She popped her neck and several other joints before hopping onto the roofs to find her next target.

Minutes past and she couldn't find a good target. She did find Sasuke though, but decided not too because he would most likely try to actually hurt her instead of playing along.

After standing on a single roof for a few moments, she nearly gave up trying to find another target.

"What are you doing up here?"

Asuka got startled and jumped as she turned around and covered herself, afraid of getting hit by Naruto or Kiba.

She sighed with relief "It's just you Neji," she laughed to herself before continuing, "what do you mean?"

"Your on my roof." He said coldly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

She looked around and realized he was right, it looked a lot like his place. She smiled and laughed nervously while scratching the back of her head. "My bad. Achoo!" she sneezed, still cold from the snowman galore Kakashi sensei put her through. She rubbed her arms and shivered.

"Is it that cold to you?" Neji asked.

"N-no, Kakashi sensei got back at me pretty good with a few snowmen." She replied, feeling her nose go numb.

"Before we continue with our conversation, you actually got Kakashi sensei, with a snowball I am guessing?"

She nodded and smiled at him.

He closed his eyes and looked away, "You are a fool, going after a jonin leveled shinobi with something as pathetic as a snowball." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How long have you been out her?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "What time is it?"

"Around three o' clock."

Her eyes went wide in shock "I've been out here for hours, since before noon I've been out here."

He shook his head and sighed. "Want to come inside? Hinata made too much hot chocolate, and your face is nearly red, it'd bee better if you came inside and warmed up before doing anything else."

She smiled, this was the first time Neji invited her into his home, even though she invited him several times to hers, he never accepted, always had 'other things' to do as he said. "I'd love to Neji."

He nodded and leaded her down and through the front door. He offered to take her small purple jacket that only covered her arms and her rib cage. She nodded and let him take it, he was shocked by the weight of it.

"How much does this weigh?" he asked, barley able to take it and set it down on a shelf, seeing as the coat rack itself might fall if he put it on it.

She shrugged, "75 pounds I think… or was it 100… I lost count, thanks for taking it though." She smiled at him before he started leading her through the house.

She saw Hinata, her usual nervous self waving and saying hi to her, Asuka smiled and waved back. "Hey Hinata, Neji told me you had some hot chocolate."

She nodded, "Yes, I'll get it." she got Asuka a mug and poured the piping hot chocolate in it.

Asuka looked to her left to see a little kid, she smiled and knelt to the child. "Hey there, what's your name?"

"Hyuga Hanabi, Hyuga Hinata's younger sister, and Hyuga Neji's cousin. What of you?" the little girl had pretty, long dark brown hair with long parted bangs, she seemed quite polite and nice, a little more open than her older sister Hinata.

"I am Asuka, Neji's teammate, it is nice to meet you young one." She smiled at the child, and she smiled back. Hinata handed her the hot chocolate. "Thanks Hinata, I'll be sure to say hi to Naruto later for you."

Hinata quickly averted her eyes and started fiddling with her fingers as a light blush appeared on her cheeks. "Th-thank you, Asuka." She replied softly. She sat down at the table, "P-please, sit." She motioned her to a chair.

Asuka accepted the offer and sat down next to Hinata, Neji grabbed some hot chocolate and so did Hanabi. Neji sat across from Asuka, and Hanabi sat across from Hinata, sitting next to Neji.

"S-so Asuka, what were you doing before Neji invited you here?" Hinata asked shyly.

Asuka took a sip from her chocolate, it was REALLY bitter, but she swallowed it down anyway and held down the sour face. "I was pulling pranks with Naruto and Kiba for about an hour or two, messing with Shikamaru and Kakashi sensei. Shikamaru didn't do anything about it, but Kakashi sensei got me good." She giggled before taking another sip of the chocolate. "He got me to fall onto a snowman, then got another snowman to fall on top of me."

"Why would you pull a prank on a jonin?" Hanabi asked.

"Because, I've known him for a long time, and he has been my sensei every now and then back when I was training, but wasn't in the academy then." She took a giant gulp and placed the empty mug down, still straining to hold down the bitter chocolate.

"W-would you like m-more?" Hinata offered.

_Don't be rude. Don't be rude. Don't be rude. _"Sure." _Dang it! Don't worry, you've tasted worse, remember Guy sensei trying to cook for you, if you can choke down that, you can drink sweet Hinata's hot chocolate!_

Hinata grabbed her mug and poured more hot chocolate as they continued to talk.

"What, you've had the copy ninja train you?" Hanabi asked shockingly.

"Yup, Guy sensei too."

The child was in awe. "Neji! How come you were able to defeat her so easily in combat, but she's been trained by great shinobi!"

Asuka held up her hands, "Hold it! Neji told you about our sparing?"

Hanabi nodded her head excitedly.

"How much did he tell you?"

"The whole thing! You were easily defeated, even if you had your dog Hatsahashi as your partner." She seemed pretty happy talking about this.

Asuka giggled as Hinata set the hot chocolate down in front of Asuka. She took a sip and set it down before continuing. "First of all, it's 'Hatsuharu', second, he only defeated me so easily because I couldn't do my special move in time with my kunai claws."

Hanabi gave her a questioning look to Asuka, "Kunai claws? Can I see?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Can I Neji?"

He slumped in his chair. "Sure, but don't go using it in here."

"Don't worry Neji, I have SOME house manors." She dug into her pouch and pulled out a coiled Kunai Claw and set the chain on the table.

"Can I touch it?" Hanabi asked.

"You can touch the chain, but don't touch the Kunai, you only learn that lesson once, unless your like me and have to learn it three times before it sinks into your head 'it's very pointy'."

Hanabi grabbed the chain, seeing how long it is and how thick the chain was. "Why do you carry something so heavy around?"

"It get's you stronger, the more you carry it, the more your body get's accustomed to the weight, that's when I add more." She finished and took a sip of her chocolate.

"You don't look very strong." She stated, pointing at Asuka's arms.

She smiled brightly and held up her skinny arms. "Yeah, I know, but looks can be VERY deceiving."

"Are you sure?" Hanabi asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Would you like to pick up my jacket?" she asked jokingly, pointing to her jacket.

Hanabi started getting up but Neji put a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to sit back down. "Don't."

Asuka put the Kunai Claw back in her pouch and took another sip of her chocolate and kept drinking it till it was empty and setting it down while taking a deep breath and exhaling. She then said this very quickly, "Neji has suppressed emotional feelings for me."

Neji was drinking his chocolate and spewed it out as soon as she said that. He coughed, trying to get his breath before replying to that. Hanabi was patting his back, helping him. "What?!"

"Hold your drink down next time." Asuka put an arm around Hinata, "That's right Hinata, one day, we might be related."

Hinata's face nearly turned completely red, "O-oh… u-um…"

"Well," Asuka sat up and stretched. "time for me to hit the old dusty trail." She got her jacket and put it on and ran out the front door. "Thanks for the hot chocolate Hinata! I look forward to it next time!"

Neji's eye was twitching, hot chocolate still coming out of his mouth while his jaw was wide open.

"Is that true Neji?" Hanabi asked.

He shook his head and took a deep breath, "No, it's not." he got out of his chair and ran after Asuka, leaving his mess for Hinata to clean up.

He activated his Byakugan and instantly found her chakra, he followed and pinned her up against the wall of the nearest building.

"Why would you say that? Right in front of both of my cousins!" he said as he held her up by the front of her black dress.

"You have a headache again."

He deactivated his Byakugan, "Answer the question."

"You know I can easily get out of this, right?"

He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked away. "I don't care Asuka, just answer." He looked back and saw to be holding a snowman. _How did she do that?_ He wondered.

"I was bored, simple as that." She said as she was just a few feet away from him.

He turned around and quickly got a hold of her hair and the front of her dress and pinned her up against the wall again. "Answer, the question, you are driving my patients!"

"You like it ruff don't you?" she remarked.

He pulled on her hair and pushed on her harder. "Answer." He said angrily, staring through her eyes with daggers.

"I just did, I was simply bored. Why are you getting so worked up over this? It was just a joke." She held his hand that was holding her dress. "Let go."

He sighed and let go of her. "I don't know… I should be used to it by now."

"Unless… you do like me!" she stated.

A light blush spread across his cheeks and he looked away, turning his back on her. "I don't think so, you are merely fantasizing."

She jumped onto his back and cling to him. "Why are you blushing then?"

"I'm not blushing! It's cold out here!" he said as he was trying to get her off.

"We've been out here for not even five minutes, it's not cold yet." She jumped off of him and appeared right in front of him. "If your cold, then let me warm you up." She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to be at eye level with her, then she kissed him on his nose and winked. "Your cute." She scampered off to her house and left Neji there.

He shook his head and rubbed his temples, trying to clear the blush before he got back home. "She's just weird…"

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**I KNOW WHAT YOUR THINKING! And now, Neji is not her second love interest… just a funny one. I flipped the coin whether for Asuka to say that Neji had feelings for her… I'm proud I put that in now, I really am. **

**I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**Reminder: if this story gets 15 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day.**

**See you next week!**

**2/11/13 *Young Love* **


	13. Young Love

**Another double upload week… yah! :D We are getting so CLOSE to the chapters I REALLY ENJOYED writing, GAH! I can almost taste it!**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 12

Young Love

"Hatsuharu, how am I supposed to ever learn if all you do is avoid and not let me learn a single thing?" Asuka scolded her partner.

He shrugged his shoulder and gave her a warm smile before dodging her Kunai Claw heading straight for him, the altered Kunai dug into the ground and Asuka just looked angry and confused in the tree she was perched in.

"Any suggestions?" she gestured to him.

He nodded his head and looked at her with confidence, then used a jutsu to create a clone.

"Of course!" the little light bulb in her head flickered. "If I use a shadow clone like Kakashi sensei taught me, I'll be able to make a diversion and make an attack without the opponent ever knowing! Thank you Hatsuharu." She gave him a thumbs up and smiled before creating the hand symbols needed for the jutsu.

She created two other forms of herself, letting them cross run right in front of her as she hid in the trees, letting her shadow clones distract Hatsuharu.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_I wonder where Asuka and Hatsuharu went…_Lee thought. _They weren't at their apartment, and I didn't find them in the training grounds, I thought we were going to train today too!_ He put his hands behind his head and sighed, it was a beautiful day for a walk, the cool breeze still blew; but the sky was clear and the sun felt warm as it settled onto his face.

There was clinking sounds, like two pieces of metal clashing together in the distance. Lee heard this and went into the trees immediately going after the sound in stealth. He hid well, he always was able to hide well most of the time, and then again it's still hard for him to control his chakra to substantial level that was able to be undetected. He still kept his distance as he heard the voices up ahead.

_Is that Asuka? I wonder…_

He goes closer to the voices to see a dark purple haired girl fighting a giant gray wolf.

_Yah, that's her, but what is she doing?_

She threw her Kunai Claw at Hatsuharu while he was being distracted by her shadow clones; the claw landed into the ground, right next to the wolf's head.

"Ha!" she shouted with glee. "You would have been dead if I didn't aim for the ground." she smiled proudly for a moment, only to be knocked off the tree by Hatsuharu tackling her from behind.

The wolf her shadow clones were distracting turned to a puff of smoke, so did her shadow clones. She glared at her partner, angry her plan didn't work.

"I should have figured you did something like that." She sat up and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment as Hatsuharu landed next to her, helping her up before continuing their training.

_Ah, so she's training without me! _Lee looked away and scowled like a child angry at their mother for taking away a toy. He sighed, looking back at them. _Makes sense though, she doesn't want anyone to know she's trying to get better with her artificial weapon, she is always able to make surprises the best kind. _He smiled, about to leave.

"How did Lee's Birthday go? Um…"

Lee stopped, wondering if he should stay to hear, or leave.

_LEAVE! It is very disrespectful to eaves drop on a conversation, especially on a teammate!_

He scratched the back of his head, still wondering whether to stay or not.

"You mean after we left right?"

His face turned red from embarrassment, he didn't want to stay and spy on his friend, but yet he wanted to stay and hear what she thought.

_I don't know…_

"Well first off, the pain from my injury was getting to me pretty badly…"

Lee sat back down, wanting to hear her part of the story instead of playing the memory of his birthday over and over in his head, wondering how he could have made it better for himself and her.

"But I put up with it because it was for him you know? He's sweet; therefore he deserves a good night out right?" Hatsuharu nodded in agreement, letting her continue. "Well, I put my headband around his eyes again so then he couldn't see how much pain I was in."

Lee was disappointed in himself. _I knew I should have removed it when I had the chance!_

Asuka and Hatsuharu still sparred, trying to get better with her Kunai Claws. She jumped back to a tree that was only meters away from Lee. His whole body shook from fright.

_If she finds me here what would she say!? I hope she doesn't find me! Please don't find me! Please don't find me! Please don't find me…_before he knew it, she jumped from her place and headed to the wolf; he dodged her attack and nearly bit her.

She dodged and countered with an upper cut straight to his jaw.

"You know that place I go to for some peace and quiet when I want to draw?" Hatsuharu nodded his head, "Well I took him there, but by the time I got there, my chest was killing me, my back couldn't take it anymore and I nearly shoved Lee to the ground and I removed my headband from him and lay down beside him."

_No wonder she felt a bit wobbly… I should have said something._ He stroked his chin, as if he had a beard but didn't as he continued to eaves drop on his teammate.

Hatsuharu charged at her with fire in his mouth, ready to bite her, but she leaped with grace and landed softly on tree a few meters away from her partner and wrapped her Kunai Claw around his torso. The wolf grabbed the chain and yanked on it, making Asuka fall; as she hit the ground with a giant thud, her body turned into a little wooden log. She appeared behind him and started doing chain attack punches that landed a few times on him before he finally hopped back.

"Then Lee started acting out of character, I shivered from the cold and pain striking through my body, and then Lee snuggles with me, keeping me really warm." A light blush spread across her face as she remembered that night.

Lee blushed too remembering that night. _What was I thinking? I don't normally do that…do I? No, no I most certainly do not, what came over me that night I wonder…_

"Then he's the one who made ME blush first." Hatsuharu cocked his head to the side in confusion. "I know right!? I usually make him blush first, but then again, I'm the one who flirts with him first, he was being really cute."

_Aww, she called me cute! _Lee put a hand over his mouth to prevent him from actually saying his thoughts out loud.

"Then he said I could never hide my blushing face from him, saying I'm too 'adorable' to hide it." she played with the dirt with her feet as she messed with her fingers, trying to hide her blush. "Then I started tickling him and he pinned me down, but unfortunately…"

_Oh no, I did something wrong, I knew it! _He clenched his fists, desperate to hear what she has to say.

"He sat on me, which put pressure on my back and I just couldn't hold in the pain anymore." She looked down with disappointment, watching the smiley face she made in the ground with her foot.

Lee face palmed. _The one time I do that and I forget that she's injured, great… I'll never let this mistake live down. _

"But he made up for it by carrying me, so I forgive him." She smiled and scratched the back of her head.

Lee let out his held in breath, happy to know she forgives him.

Asuka and Hatsuharu sat on the ground, more interested to talk about what happened a month or so ago.

"Then he asked about our… 'relationship' I've been giving him mixed signs apparently, but I sort it out, saying we're too young for love." She lay down on the grass, staring up at the clear sky.

Hatsuharu nudged her, muffling a bark.

"What do I feel of him? Well…"

_If you have any self respect as a shinobi and a friend, run away right now! _Lee's body didn't move an inch. _This is wrong! So, so, SO wrong, MOVE LEGS! _

"He's cute, funny…"

Lee was in a crouched position, ready to pounce and get out of there, but his legs just wouldn't let him. _MOVE LEGS! MOVE PLEASE!_

"He seems to always brighten my day whenever I'm around him…"

_THAT IS IT!_ Lee grasped his index finger, readying himself for the pain he was about to cause to himself.

**Snap!**

He index finger was now bent backwards, he snapped back into reality and ran away, not leaving a trail of any sorts as he got out more bandages to wrap his now broken finger. He sighed with relief. _Finally got out of there, if this were a battle I would be dead._ He looked down at his broken finger. _Did I really just break my finger just to get out of eaves dropping? _He shook his head and scratched the back of his head.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Another cup of green tea please."

The waiter scratched down his order, "It'll be right out." He walked away, leaving Lee at his two seated table.

His head rested in his hand that was propped by the table as he looked at his leaf village headband he wore around his waist. It rested on his hips as he tilted the headband to face him. He looked away, trying to forget everything he heard from Asuka when he eaves dropped.

The waiter set the cup in front of him. "Here you are sir."

Lee bowed his head slightly before his waiter left him again. He played with his tea with a toothpick, feeling more down than parched.

The bell on the door to the tea shop rang as somebody else walked in. Lee ignored whoever it was and continued to stare down at his tea as he played with it, making little swirls in it.

"Lee, do I need to tell you not to play with your drinks?"

Lee looked up to match the gaze given by his sensei before he sat down across from him. "Guy sensei? What are you doing here?"

"Well Lee, to be honest I come here every now and then whenever I want to think clearly, but when I found you here, it seemed that we both come her for the same purpose." Guy said as he ordered the waiter to bring him a jasmine tea.

"Well Guy sensei…" he stared down at his tea again, not knowing whether he should tell him or not.

Guy arched a thick eyebrow. "What is it Lee?"

The genin sighed before looking back at his sensei, "I eaves dropped on Asuka while she trained with Hatsuharu." He looked back at his tea, preparing for his future punishment.

"Lee! How could you!" he scolded his student, deeply disapproved of this. "She's a teammate, haven't I taught you better?"

Lee nodded his head. "Yes Guy sensei, you have. I just… I don't know what came over me, I really don't. My legs wouldn't move until I broke my finger." He showed his sensei his broken index finger.

Guy arched his eyebrow again, giving him a confused look again. Then he relaxed, softening his eyes. "You should go apologize."

Lee shot his head up, looking at his sensei again. "What?"

"Go apologize to her, she's a very forgiving person Lee, for as long as I've trained and known her, she will forgive you easily." He gave him a thumbs up and a reassuring smile.

"But… I heard her talking about what she likes about me… well, only part of it."

Guy's eyes shot wide, dropping his empty tea cup to the table while slightly twitching. He shook it off and looked dead serious at Lee. "Don't say a single word to her Lee."

"W-what?! You just said-"

"I know what I said! But just trust me on this Lee, don't mention you heard her say what she likes about you. A matter of fact, forget what she EVER said about you, understood?" the waiter filled both of their tea cups as Guy finished.

Lee saluted. "Yes sensei!"

"Good, now as punishment, go do one-thousand laps around Konoha on your hands!" Guy ordered him as Lee paid for his tea.

"Yes sensei!" he dashed out of the tea house, leaving Guy to pay for the rest of his tea.

_Ah, young love… it's so evil. _Guy cringed at his memories of 'young love' before leaving as well. _I just hope Lee can survive it._

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Kakashi sensei! I need more training please, if you have the time of course…"

The Jounin closed his book and looked at the little Genin. "Ah, Asuka, more training? You know I have my own future team to prepare for right?"

"Yes, but please, I just need to learn how to use my Kunai Claws better." She held out her weapon for Kakashi to see.

"The weapon I helped you make?" he sighed and closed his book before leading her. "Fine, I don't really have anything else to do, so why not?"

"Thank you Kakashi sensei!" she followed behind him to the training grounds.

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**Hmmm… yah, ok then. Tell me what you think! Pretty please tell me! I hate walking on thin ice here…**

**Reminder: if this story gets a total of 15 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day. **

**Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day. **

**Next Chapter: *It tastes worse than it looks…***

**Follow the arrow and review please! I really want to know how I'm doing... I really do. **

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	14. It Tastes Worse Than it Looks

**Here's the second chapter for double upload week. Hope you'll laugh on this one too :) I had fun writing this, but it's the next two chapters I REALLY loved writing. **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 13

It tastes worse than it looks...

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

"Hatsuharu, would you mind getting the door boy?" Asuka covered her mouth and coughed violently, then sneezed into a tissue. She groaned lightly as she covered herself with her teal/purple checkered pattern comforter.

Hatsuharu answered the door and let him come in.

"Where's Asuka? She's late for training." Lee asked as he let Hatsuharu guide him to her room.

She coughed even more violently before seeing her visitor. "Oh, Lee, it's you." she smiled weekly. Her skin was pale and her eyes ringed red, her once soft silky smooth hair was now a fuzzy/matted mess. "What are you doing here?"

"Were supposed to train today, remember?" Lee asked as he advanced to her, sitting on the edge of her bed and moving the hair away from her sweat slicked face.

"Lee, I'm sorry, I don't think I can come out today." she blew her nose into a tissue as Hatsuharu brought her an icepack, placing it on her head. "Thanks boy." she patted her companion's head lightly; scratching the back of his ear, and making him wag his tail happily.

"But Asuka, youth doesn't take a day off just because their a little sick." he smiled happily, holding her hand and tried to pull her out of bed.

"Lee," she groaned, "I'm sick, I can barley move as is." she coughed more, pulling her hand back and burrowing into her comforter.

"Asuka-" Lee tried arguing, but Hatsuharu started dragging him away by his bandaged hand. "Hatsuharu, if she doesn't train today, she-" her companion gave Lee a stern look. He almost instantly shut up, letting Hatsuharu drag him out the door and slam it behind him.

Hatsuharu sighed as he went back to Asuka's side, bringing the bowl of soup on the nightstand closer to her.

She took it and sipped it lightly, "Thanks boy." she smiled weakly at him again before snuggling into her comforter more and going to sleep.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

Hatsuharu answered it.

"Is Asuka home?"

He nodded and let him in, the little white dog jumped out of his partner's grey jacket and onto Hatsuharu's head, barking happily.

Kiba walked into Asuka's room, seeing that she's asleep. Hatsuharu entered his companion's room and took the melted icepack off her head and went back to the kitchen to replace the ice.

"She looks horrible, I think I can help though." Kiba sat on the side of her bed and felt her forehead. _She's burning up and her nose is running._ He felt her throat, looking for a pulse. _A little bit faster than needed._

Her eyes opened slowly, blinking several times before seeing who it is that's touching her face. "Oh, hey Kiba." She smiled at him, trying to give him a warm smile, but she coughed violently and blew into a tissue before sniffling more, trying to breathe through her nose. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just going to visit, but you look horrible." he stroked her cheek, and then moved to her hair. "And I'm not just talking about your hair."

She weakly punched his leg and let him mess with her matted hair.

"Anyway, I think I can help you, but first, take a shower. It smells like you haven't taken a shower in days." he covered his nose.

"Shut it, your part dog, so you can smell better than me, then again I'm the one with a stuffed nose." she smiled, trying to avert his attention away from her sent.

He pointed to her bathroom. "Shower first, and then I'll help." He ordered.

She sighed; Hatsuharu came back with her icepack. "Hatsuharu, help me to the bathroom." he put the icepack down and helped his partner to the bathroom, letting her take care of the rest.

The wolf looked at Kiba and barked happily.

"Ha, yah, she hasn't a shower in a long time has she? She usually smells like citrus." Kiba acknowledged.

Akamaru jumped back onto Kiba's head and went into his hood. The wolf barked lower at Kiba.

"Well I did say I was going to help didn't I?" Kiba got out of her room and went to the kitchen, looking through it and pulling out a soup pot and some ingredients. "Grr... she doesn't have some of the things I need." he pulled out a piece of paper and pencil then scribbled down some ingredients. He gave it to Hatsuharu and gave him some money. "I need you to go to the market and get these supplies, understood?"

The wolf let Kiba put the note and money in his satchel that was around his chest before doing as he said.

Kiba started making... whatever it was, it smelled horrible. But he was confident that it would help Asuka, just as it helped him when he was sick and his mother shoved it down his throat, no matter how horrible it tasted too. But Kiba was nicer than his mother and actually tried making it taste better.

Hatsuharu came back in a few minutes with his satchel filled with herbs, spices, and weird vegetables that the smart wolf had never even heard of.

Kiba emptied his satchel and got what he needed and put the extra in stored spaces. "Thanks Hatsuharu, just check and make sure Asuka is ok and I'll be in there when I'm finished." He went back to making his awful smelling soup.

He nodded his head and went into his companion's room, seeing that she smells a LOT better than she did half an hour ago, but she barley even tried to dry her hair. So her back was damp and cold.

She shivered. "Hatsuharu, it smells terrible. What is Kiba doing?"

Hatsuharu shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

She gave him a stern look. "You're not helping."

Hatsuharu just ignored her and climbed into bed with her, lying down behind her and warming her damp back from her wet hair.

She shivered more and turned around then hugged him. "Thanks boy." She relaxed a bit more and dug her face into Hatsuharu's soft fur and fell asleep once more.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Hey," Kiba shook Asuka's shoulder gently while speaking softly, trying not to startle her. "Sleeping beauty, wake up and take your soup like a shinobi."

She blinked several times before fully waking up to the horrible smelling soup near her face. She scowled and backed away, nearly falling off the bed. She looked back to Kiba and the soup. "Do I have to drink that?"

He nodded, "If you want to be better within a few days, I suggest you take it, or else suffer more from your sickness."

She groaned as Kiba sat at the edge of her bed and wrapping an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his lap and tilting her head up, facing him with the bowl of soup in his other hand.

"Kiba, I think I'm strong enough to drink it on my own." she tried reaching for the bowl, but Kiba put it out of her reach.

"Believe me, you look a lot like me when I was sick, and if you are as sick as you look; then I need to feed it to you." she lowered her hands and let Kiba put the edge of the bowl to her mouth.

"If I do look as bad as you, then I must be butt ugly." she laughed weakly.

"Just shut up and drink it you idiot."

She gagged and Kiba pulled the bowl away and set it down. She was about to cough it back up, but Kiba held her nose and closed her mouth, making her swallow it.

"Gah! That tastes awful." She cringed and tried wiping the taste from her mouth with a tissue.

"I know it tastes horrible, but you need to drink this if you want to feel better." She sighed and settled back down into his lap.

He put the bowl back to her lightly chapped lips and leaned in closer to try to keep her warm, his face was only inches away from her, but she didn't mind, they've known each other for years now. He was like a brother to her.

She cringed more, but she choked the horrible soup down her throat, trying to ignore the awful taste as she saw how close she was to finishing the bowl.

"Done, is that all?" she asked happily as he got up and began to walk away.

"Actually, you need about two more bowls of this and you'll be done with this stuff for the rest of the day." He left her room to get more soup.

Asuka's face was dumbstruck. _I have to drink two more bowls of that stuff?! Nuh uh, no way!_ She slowly got out of bed, carful not to make a noise; she slowly got to the window and opened it.

"Bark arf!"

"Shut up Akamaru!" she whispered/yelled. "I can't take that stuff, all I need is fresh air right?" She put a leg out the window, preparing herself to jump off the four story apartment complex.

"Hey! Get back in bed and drink your soup!" Kiba yelled as he put down the bowl and quickly grabbed the back of her night shirt. He dragged her back to her bed and tucked her in so tight she couldn't turn over.

She squirmed as she tried to unwrap herself. "Kiba, this isn't fair and you know it, that stuff tastes awful and you know it!" She squirmed more, but Kiba put an arm around her shoulder again and pulled her onto his lap.

"I don't care how awful it tastes, you need to drink this! At least I tried to make it taste better, my mother didn't even try, and it tasted five times worse than this! And you know that my taste buds are more heightened than yours!" she sighed again, letting him pour the soup down her throat.

Without a single complaint, she finished it and didn't try to escape when he left to go get the last bowl of soup. They got into their same position again and fed her.

"Asuka! Are you feeling better?" Lee barged in and went to Asuka's room, seeing only Kiba leaned over Asuka with his back to Lee. "Kiba! Are you kissing my teammate?!" Lee exclaimed with shock.

Kiba shot his head up and showed the empty bowl in his hand and looked at Lee. "What are you talking about? I'm just feeding her."

Asuka nodded in agreement. "Lee, it sounded like you're jealous... are you?" an evil smirk found it's way to her face.

Lee lightly blushed but shook it off. "N-no, of course not, I don't care who you kiss." he turned away, his back facing them now.

"Aww, Lee, you are jealous! How cute!" she smiled, feeling better already she attempted to get up; but Kiba shoved her back down.

"No, if you try getting up you might throw up." he gave her a stern look, knowing she might try again.

"Fine." she relaxed, snuggling into her comforter almost instantly falling asleep again.

Kiba slowly got up and gently laid her head onto her pillow. He put a hand on Lee's shoulder and looked at him with that confident look. "You are jealous, I could hear your heart beat from only feet away." He began to leave but stopped at the doorway, letting Akamaru jump into his jacket and faced Lee one last time. "Your too nervous, ease up." he left, leaving Lee with an asleep Asuka in her bed.

Lee looked at his teammate and brushed the hair out of her face. Her face wasn't as pale and sickly looking as it was, her eyes don't look as tired, and her skin wasn't hot to the touch. Kiba did good, feeding her that awful soup. Lee sighed, disappointed in himself.

_Why was I jealous... we're just friends after all..._

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**Why was he jealous? Hmm… you know why ;D… I hope. Just kidding. **

**Reminder: if this story gets a total of 15 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day. (Do it! Review and laugh you're ass off on the next chapter 8D)**

**See you next week!**

**Next Chapter: *Boys! Boys! Boys!***

**Follow the arrow and review please! Pretty pretty pretty PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE review the next chapter... I nearly peed my pants out of pure laughter, I shit you not, I really did. **

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	15. Boys! Boys! Boys!

**I actually got to 20 reviews and didn't notice it till yesterday XD It was recorded to have been made on Saturday, so technically I was suppose to upload this chapter yesterday… may bad. **

**Yah! I love this chapter! I really do, I had so much fun writing this and imagined me doing this for a day. I think I would freak a lot of people out… **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 14

Boys! Boys! Boys!

"Hatsuharu, I need you to stay at home today." Asuka told her companion.

He cocked his head to the side and pinned his ears back then perked them back towards her again.

"I know it's confusing, but just trust me on this. It's a prank I need to do on my own, but I need the help of Naruto with this, understand?" she kneeled down slightly to meet his stone blue eyes at eye-level.

He averted his eyes for a split second then nodded.

She hugged him quickly and ran out the door. "Thanks Hatsuharu!" Shutting the door behind her, she went straight to Naruto's place, which wasn't far from her apartment. She was being sneaky, making sure nobody could see her, and hid in the shadows and then got to Naruto's place through a window.

She climbed through the window and fell on the wooden floor on her back, making a giant '**thud'**.

Naruto walked into his room to find her lying down near the window in his dirty laundry.

"Gah! Naruto, learn to clean up after yourself! You're about to graduate for crying out loud!" she scolded as she got out of his laundry.

"Well you shouldn't have broken into my home!" Naruto retaliated.

"Well you should lock your windows, so HA!" she turned her back to him and went for the window again. "Wait, I needed something." she pulled her body back into his room and smiled at him happily.

"What do you want?" the blond asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Teach me that sexy jutsu!" she said gleefully.

"What?! But, that's for guys!" He replied unexpectedly.

"But, imagine if a girl did it." she put an arm around his shoulder and led him to the window. "I have a prank in mind, but I need your help."

"I have no idea where it's going, but I like it!" He put his arm around her shoulder and stared out the window with her while she told him her plan.

"Hmm, well first you need to focus your chakra." Naruto told her. "Then just think of a sexy... guy form I suppose... well, for a girl I mean."

"Ok." She replied, it wasn't really a lesson, but she nearly got it down. A puff of smoke covered her body. "Well, how'd I do?" Her voice was a bit... more like a guy. Like a mixture of Sasuke and Kakashi's voice, but slightly deeper and more alluring.

Naruto's eyes shot wide, but he shook it off, or tried to anyway and just stared at Asuka. "You... look like a guy alright. But your taller then me finally, and you're muscles... you are a sexy guy." he smiled to himself. "I am one great teacher."

"What?" Asuka said as she looked in the mirror.

Her face wasn't heart shaped anymore, her jaw line was longer, and her high cheek bones were lower. Her hands were bigger, shoulders more bold and strong looking. Her eyes were more... guy like, her hair was shorter, a lot shorter. About ear length with bangs and it was the same color with a layer or two. She looked down at her bare body... was now a guy's bare body. She... He blushed and covered his 'private' areas, even his chest.

"Naruto! I love it! But quit starring at me like that!" He yelled at Naruto.

"Hey! You're a guy now, so it's perfectly fine." He crossed his arms and turned away. "You'll need some clothes though, give me some money and I'll get you some."

Asuka deactivated the jutsu and gave him some money. "Alright, so you just want me to stay here?"

"Yah, until I get back try to think of a new name for your 'guy' self, and try getting used to peeing standing up." He took her money and left, leaving her blushing at the thought of just going to the bathroom like that.

She sighed and paced the room. _What name should I come up with?... hmmm... I got it! _"Fujiwara Takumi shall be my alter ego name! But now I'll have to learn how to pee standing up... how do guys do it..."

She transformed into her alter ego 'Takumi' and stared down at his private area. "I wonder if this is normal length..." He held himself and looked at it. "So this is what it looks like. I wonder what Guy sensei would say if I told him I learned this jutsu... what would Lee say?" he went to the bathroom and learned it's not that hard to go standing up and then deactivated the jutsu when Naruto came back.

"So, what's your name?" Naruto asked as he gave her the new clothes.

"Fujiwara Takumi." She replied happily and went to the bathroom and changed form and clothes.

He came out wearing a black T-shirt with random purple lines all over like someone threw a paintball at it; also wearing black cargo shorts with bandages wrapped around his legs, and finishing off with black shinobi sandals.

"Dang... I look sexy." Takumi said as he looked into the full body mirror and lifting up his shirt. "I look buff." He touched his rock-hard abs and felt his toned chest.

"That's the point, now are we going to do this or not?" Naruto asked as he led the way out of his house with Takumi following.

"So, where to first?" Takumi asked as he stared down at Naruto, he was a good foot taller than him. "I'm not used to being this tall."

"Your age is 16 right now, got it? And this is where I leave you and watch you from behind, see how many girls will actually flirt with you."

"Alright then." He replied. Naruto ran away and hid, watching his 'male' friend commence in his prank.

_Maybe I should walk by the flower shop, see if that annoying 'Ino' who's obsessed with Uchiha Sasuke flirt with me._

He did just that and saw Ino in the corner of his eye just staring at him with aw. Before he knew it, Ino was stumbling over flower pots and ran outside in her apron to meet him.

"Hi! I don't think I've seen you before." She chirped. Her blue eyes ringed with black staring into his milk chocolate ones. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, and you are?" She bowed and stared back up at him with content.

"Um... my name is Fujiwara Takumi." He took Ino's hand and kissed it, "It is a pleasure to meet you." He smiled at her warmly and winked.

Ino blushed madly with a deep red and giggled insecurely then started playing with her hair. "Th-thank you, how old are you?"

"I'm 16, and you?"

"I'm 12... that's close enough right?" she asked nervously.

"For what?" He asked.

"F-for a date... would you like to go get some ramen with me?" She pointed with her thumb towards the ramen shop.

"Uh... I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment." He raised his hands defensively and smiled awkwardly.

"Oh... alright then." she looked down disappointedly and played with the dirt with her foot before going back into the flower shop. "Maybe some other time right?" she asked hopefully.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

She smiled and went back into her shop.

_Dang... I'm a player... cool._

Takumi walked away and sighed.

_Poor girl... it seemed like she really liked me._

He shook it off and increased his pace.

_Oh well, this is just for today, just keep going._

"Hey! You look familiar, have we met?"

Takumi whipped around on his heels to see his best friend. "No, I don't think we have."

_Run away! Kiba's going to sniff through my jutsu if I don't leave now!_

Kiba advanced towards him and sniffed. "Hey! Your-"

Takumi grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into an ally and covering his mouth. "Shhh! I know, I know, I'm really Asuka, but right now I'm just doing a prank. So don't blow my cover please!" He whispered/yelled at him.

"Oh, that would make more sense..." He looked Takumi up and down. "You're really tall and you're handsome... I would never have hanged out with you if you were a guy." He laughed to himself as Takumi let him go and they walked together.

Takumi gathered a few stares from women all over town, even a few from men, some more threatening than others when he got a stare from a girl who was with their boyfriend.

"I have an idea, but you need to hang back on this." Takumi told Kiba. He nodded and let his friend go on ahead of him, seeing now who he's going after with a smile.

"Hey." Takumi greeted.

"Hi."

"You're cute." He winked at his teammate. "I've always liked Hyuga eyes."

Neji looked like he was getting irritated, yet he looked confused at the same time. "What are you getting at?" he said sharply.

"You, me," He grabbed Neji around his waist and pulled him closer. "and that ally, what do you say?" he asked with a warm smile, leaning closer that their noses nearly touched.

"No, now let go before I have to hurt you." Neji said coldly, looking even more irritated than confused now.

"Come on, you know you want to, you do have a crush on me after all." Takumi brought his face closer, nearly sealing the space between them.

"Gentle Fist!" Neji hit Takumi's stomach with his chakra filled palm, sending him back into a building and leaving a giant crater.

The jutsu released and Asuka got out of the rubble, holding her stomach. "Dang... that hurt Neji." she plopped onto the ground, trying to hold back the vomit that was coming up.

"Asuka?!" Neji said shockingly. "What were you doing as a guy?"

She threw up into a nearby trashcan and answered. "Trying to mess with people, be myself and mess with people." she vomited more into the trashcan. "Just trying to have fun." she smiled at him.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. He gave her a bottle of water and she happily took it; cleaning out her mouth and handing it back to him but he wouldn't take it back. She shrugged and put it in her bag then transformed back into Takumi.

"Why are you doing this?" Neji asked.

"I got one more person to mess with." He said as he walked away.

"Is it Lee?" Neji asked curiously. He nodded his head to his teammate. "In that case, Lee is that way." Neji pointed to the North.

Takumi nodded happily and ran off. "Thank you Neji!"

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why does she do things like this? Why me?" He sighed and went back to his house.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Takumi peaked around the corner and saw Lee just plainly walking down the street. "Gotcha now." an evil grin spread across his face. But he shook it off and quickly walked over to Lee right when he was next to an ally way, he pushed Lee into it and pinned him. "Hey." He said in a husky voice next to his ear.

"What the?! What are you doing?! Who are you!?" Lee demanded.

Takumi put an index finger to Lee's lips and held his hands above his head. "Shhh... I'm Fujiwara Takumi, and you're Rock Lee, correct?"

He nodded, "Yes, but how did you know?"

"I know a lot of things about you Lee." He stroked Lee's cheek, making him blush. "Like how you dress like your great sensei Might Guy, how easy it is to make you blush, and that your birthday was only a little over a month and a half ago. I've been keeping an eye on you Lee." He stood about ten inches taller than Lee, so he wrapped his arm around Lee's waist and picked him up to their bodies meeting.

"L-let go! I'm warning you!" Lee yelled timidly as Takumi's face was only an inch away from his, making their noses touch and cross, their lips were centimeters away.

"You're clearly enjoying this." He smiled under his warm breath.

Lee was slowly breathing, his eyes wide as he stared into Takumi's eyes. "You look familiar..."

Takumi laughed huskily, "That's what a lot of people have said, now shush." Takumi smiled and closed his eyes; slowly leaning in closer and closer to Lee.

His face was cherry red. Was he really going to let this happen? "GET OFF!" Lee freed Takumi's grip on his hands and punched him square in the jaw.

_I've come to a conclusion, never do this prank again._

Takumi flew away from Lee for several yards before hitting a wall and stopped. The jutsu then released to show it was Asuka.

"Asuka!" Lee shouted as he sprinted towards her, stopping just in time to not run past her. "Are you ok? Wait... you were Fujiwara Takumi?!" Lee asked hastily.

She rubbed her jaw and flinched in pain. "Yah, I was Takumi, the guy you just punched and broke his jaw, and no, I am not ok." Lee helped her up and immediately headed for the hospital.

"Why would you do something like that?" Lee asked. "I was... we were... about to kiss... but you were a guy!" He blushed madly, looking away from her.

"Don't worry, I'm probably not doing that again." She laughed to herself in pain.

"Not that I'm not happy with that, but why?" Lee asked.

"First of all, Ino fell for me too quickly, Neji hit me so hard in the stomach I vomited a few times, and you broke my jaw." She smiled at him.

He smiled back warmly, "Good, I hope you've learned."

"I did! I now know what a guy looks like naked!" she smiled at him proudly, but he didn't return the look. He was mortified, eyes covered by shadows and his body stiffened. "Lee? Lee? You ok?" She waved a hand in front of him, he didn't move. She sighed and started carrying him. "Every time I get seriously injured, he has to too." She looked at him, his face turned pale and his body was still stiff, as if he were frozen. "Oh Lee, you're so cute." She smiled before hopping away to the hospital with Lee on her shoulders.

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**Poor Lee ;-; He's so innocent and cute… I just absolutely love him for that. Do you think Lee would react like that? I think he would :) He's cute for a reason, and Asuka makes it worse for him… and Neji. **

**Now, if I get up to 30 reviews, I will post the next chapter the next day.**

**See you for later on today! **

***Nothing***

**Follow the arrow and review! It really helps me out. **

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	16. February 21

**Hah! Fooled you didn't I? ;D well, the chapter isn't called *nothing* as you can see… but I was about to call it that… I really was. You can probably guess why it's called *February 21* **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 15

February 21

"Here."

"What's this?"

"A violet." Neji handed the flower to her quickly.

"But what is it for?" Asuka asked her teammate.

"It's your Birthday right?"

"Yah..." she stared down at her violet and looked back at Neji.

"Happy Birthday." He finished then walked away.

_That's odd of him to give me a violet... then again, he has started to change over the past year we've been together._

She looked back up to Neji, who had already turned a street corner.

_Thank you Neji._

She smiled and smelled her soft violet; the petals were cold and slightly wet. Meaning Neji got the flower not too long ago.

Asuka went back into her apartment and put the flower in a small glass half full of water, then set it on the window frame and smiled.

"Looks perfect, don't you think boy?" She stared at her companion and gave him a warm smile.

He nodded happily and heard somebody walk up to the door; so before they could knock he answered it.

"Happy Birthday Asuka!" Lee came in and gave her good squeezed hug. "Your twelve now right?"

She buried her face into his chest happily. "Yah, I am." She smiled up him.

"I am here to take you on a date, and remember, you can't say no." he smiled and winked at her, offering his arm to her.

_That's right, just over two months ago I agreed to go on a date with him, and I have to no matter the reason._

She nodded, "I remember." She then accepted his arm and he escorted her out her door and locked it for her, dangling the key in front of her face. She was slightly shocked, but swiped the key and put it back in her bag. "You're just lucky I was distracted."

"Mhm, sure." He teased as she snuggled into his arm. "Here." He opened his hand completely.

She knew what this meant and held his hand by intertwining their fingers. Even through his bandages, she could feel the warmth of his hand. They received a few weird stares, not thinking 'bushy brows' would get a date, but he did. And she didn't care that she was seen with him, he was her best friend, and didn't care what other people thought of her when with him.

"You still like sweet things right?" He looked down at her while smiling.

"Yah, of course, why?"

He nudged his head to the side, showing her the place he had taken her.

"The ice cream shop?"

"What's wrong? You like all sweet things except ice cream?" He asked innocently.

"Of course I like ice cream!" she hugged him tightly and ran inside.

Lee laughed to himself and trailed behind her, seeing that she's at the counter already ordering. "What did you order?"

She looked up at him with glee "Strawberry!"

"You're happy to get ice cream... do you never get any?" He asked.

"Hm? Oh, usually I get it during my free time, which I barley have it seems like sometimes, so yah, I'm happy." She smiled as she fished for her wallet.

Lee put a hand over hers. "I got it." He smiled back at her. "Chocolate please." He put the money for him and her ice cream and led her to a table and sat down across from each other.

"But Lee-"

"Asuka, I am the one who asked you on a date, whatever we do today, I'll pay." He put a hand over hers and gave her a reassuring smile.

She averted her eyes and blushed. "Thank you, Lee."

"Don't you remember?" Lee asked.

_That's right... the first wish he made on his Birthday._

"Sorry, I forgot." She looked back at him with the blush still on her face. "I'm not supposed to hide my face when I blush."

"Yup!"

The ice cream came and Asuka slowly dug into hers as Lee did a normal pace.

"You're a slow eater." He teased as he ate another spoonful of his ice cream.

"I'm savoring it." She retorted. "Unlike you." she winked at him. "You got a little ice cream on your face, let me get it." She grabbed a napkin and licked it before wiping his chin clean.

He blushed slightly, "Thank you." He silently ate his ice cream. Then a **'splat'** sound came from Asuka's direction, and Lee nearly laughed, but managed to hold it in.

Asuka cross-eyed looking at her forehead. "How bad is it?" She had accidentally flung a spoonful of strawberry ice cream to her forehead. She reached for a napkin, but Lee stopped her.

"I got it." He got up and kneeled down beside her and kissed her forehead clean, then wiped away the remains with a napkin before sitting back down. "Strawberry tastes good with chocolate, you should try it sometime."

"Maybe I will." She smiled at him.

_Guy sensei's advice is working!_ Lee cheered on the inside, not realizing that Asuka took a spoonful of his chocolate ice cream and a spoonful of her strawberry and eating it together. "Hey! You sneaky thief you!"

She giggled and pointed with her spoon, "I'm done with my ice cream, and so are you."

Lee looked at his and her bowl, seeing that they are both empty. "Looks like it, come on, I got other things planed." He offered his hand and helped her up, they held hands again as they left the ice cream shop.

"So, where are we going now?" She asked him.

"You know that little fair that they hold here sometimes?"

"Yah... but I never bothered to attend it... plus I kept forgetting." She scratched the back her head in embarrassment, for as long as she's lived in the Leaf village, she's only been to the fair once or twice.

"Well, I'm taking you there, and there's some stuff they added that I think you'll like."

"Well I am simple to please..."

"I know, but there's something I think you'll like a lot." He winked and gave her a toothy grin.

She snuggled into his arm warmly, like a kitten rubbing up against your leg snuggle. "I hope so."

They got to the fair to see that it's not that busy, yet not totally empty either. It's been a few years since she's been to the fair, it has changed. The stalls are more festive looking and kids were having more fun. She swept her bangs out of her eyes and looked around a bit more carefully; seeing that some of the fish weren't gold fish, but very colorful beta fish. Also known as Japanese Fighting Fish, they're bred to fight, but sometimes people just keep them as a decoration. She eyed a very beautiful male beta. The base of the color was a very pretty shade of purple, not too dark, not too light, it's dorsal fins were blue, and the area of it's gills were a bright red.

"You want it?" Lee asked, seeing what fish she was eyeing at.

"Hm? Oh um... I don't know..." she nervously said. Yes it's pretty, but it serves little to no use.

It'll be just a decoration, able to maintain easily, but waste money on it just to keep it alive for at most two years. She wanted it, yet she didn't. Before she knew it, Lee held the beta fish in a small container in front of her.

_He won it that fast? I need to pay attention next time..._

She accepted the beta fish and smiled.

"You have good taste." Lee complimented.

"Lee, you didn't have to." She started.

"But it would look nice in your apartment, no offense, but it is a little dull." He smiled awkwardly.

_He's right, it is dull, the cream colored walls and wooden floors were... not my style._

"Thank you Lee, I like it." She hugged him and put the beta fish in her bag, putting it in a place she usually put her delicate stuff usually used for important C rank missions.

"You still like teddy bears right?"

_Crap... I know what's coming, He's going to win me a giant teddy bear and I'll have to go to my apartment and put away the stuff he got me._

"Yah..." She answered slowly.

He went over to a stall and knew this one was rigged, it was the stacked bottles game. Usually kids get scammed and waste their money on it, the prizes were nice too, so you can't blame them for not knowing.

Lee gave the person behind the counter the appropriate amount of money to get three balls. Little does the stall vender know that Lee is stronger than some kid...

He threw the first ball with little strength backed into it. It didn't knock over any of the bottles and the guy laughed to himself, thinking Lee just waisted his money. Lee did his confident smirk and threw the ball harder, not putting even half of his strength in it he smashed the bottle's instead of knocking them over. The stall vender was shocked as the shattered glass bottles crashed onto the floor. The man sighed and gave Lee a prize.

Lee went back over to Asuka and handed her a little sugar brown teddy bear with a red ribbon around it's neck. It was cute, the perfect size for her.

"Thanks Lee." She smiled and put the teddy bear in her bag. They intertwined fingers and Lee led her down the fair, showing her some of the new stalls that have opened in the past few years.

She looked up at the sky to see that it was noon, Lee saw this too and both of their stomachs growled. "Hungry?" Lee asked as he pointed to a small food stall.

She nodded and Lee went inside and quickly came back out with a small basket of dumplings.

"Hmm, they look good." They were lightly brown and steaming slightly in the cool wind. She grabbed a bite and her eyes filled with glee. "These are lovely Lee."

"They're chicken dumplings!" He said happily as he popped one into his mouth. "I knew you'd like them, considering you don't like other kinds of meat."

"I'm surprised you remember Lee, other people don't really remember the things I like and dislike." She hugged him sweetly.

"Well of course, why wouldn't I?" he rummaged through his bag and pulled out a notepad and pencil. "I have it all right here!" he said cheerfully.

She laughed, "Of course you do Lee, you would do that." She kissed him on the cheek before he led her through a cloth door. People were sitting in rows in front of a decent sized paper screen with light shining into it.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Try to whisper, it's a surprise." he whispered to her and sat down on the floor with her beside him. "It's about to start."

The room darkened and paper puppets appeared on the screen.

"This is the story of Yin and Yang," said the male narrator. "long ago, there was a war going on in a different country. It was a war of differences fought by the countries two best generals."

Two paper puppets showed themselves and fought each other very child-like.

"Both of the generals were fathers, the general who hailed from the east had a daughter named 'Yin'."

A traditional, young princess paper puppet came into view.

"The general who hailed from the west, bared a son who was his lieutenant, his name was Yang."

A handsome solder wearing his helmet showed, Yin and Yang were on opposite sides.

"One day, while Yin was devastated by the works of her father on the corpse filled battle field. She prayed that all the soldiers were in a better place as she walked through the battlefield."

The scene showed of several dead bodies as Yin walked through it in a praying position.

"Yang knew of the devastation and went to the battle field to pray for his friends who had died that day."

It showed of Yang walking through the trench filled fields with his head down.

"That is the day he met the fair and lovely Yin."

Yang saw Yin, and they went towards each other.

"It was love at first sight, they figured out that both of their father's were the generals at war, and knew they could never be together. But they kept hope and visited each other weekly in a field filled with daisies."

The scene was as the Narrator said, there was a field with Yin and Yang together.

"Then their fathers discovered of their visits and separated them for good. Filled with depression, Yin and Yang were, they began to write letters to each other, and came up with a plan to be together for eternity. They killed themselves, hoping to be together in the afterlife. When the generals saw their children's bodies, they read their letters to each other. The generals then stopped the war, seeing what devastation it had truly brought to their nation and birthed peace among the land. The end."

Lee got up and helped Asuka up and left the small room.

"So, what do you think?" Lee looked down at her and they held hands again, then started walking down the street.

"It was a good story, but I don't think I could do what Yin and Yang did... even if it is for love, think about the people around you who care about you too." She answered nervously, in truth. She didn't like it, but Lee was being so kind...

"Yah, I don't think I could do that either." He complied. "Guy sensei would be mad at us, don't you think?"

She giggled to herself. "Yah, he would."

She took a quick scan of the area and only one thing stood out the most.

"Akamaru? Where's Kiba?" She let go of Lee's hand and held Akamaru to her chest.

He barked happily and licked her face.

"Akamaru! You traitor!" Kiba came and Akamaru jumped out of her arms and into his.

"What are you doing here Kiba?" She asked.

"Just sight seeing, heard they added a few new things to this fair." He looked at both Lee and Asuka. "What are you two doing here?" He scratched the back of his head.

"We're on a date." Asuka replied and took Lee's hand.

"Really?! So you two are... boyfriend and girlfriend then?"

"No, we're just friends on a date." She said while hugging Lee.

"Hmm... alright then. Oh right! It's your birthday right?"

She nodded, letting him continue.

"Happy birthday!" Kiba took her into his arms and hugged her warmly. She hugged him back and Akamaru jumped out and was on Kiba's head, avoiding the squeezing hug. They released and Kiba was happily smiling. "Lee, I will teach you a trick to make Asuka calm down if she's hyper."

Her eyes shot out wide. "You better not..." she started to back away slowly.

"But it's only fair, it is your birthday." Kiba evilly smiled and quickly grabbed her arm, preventing her from running away.

"Kiba! You better not show him!"

"Lee, I know that you're protective when it comes to your teammates." Kiba said as he got Asuka to her knees, her back facing him. "But believe me, I'm not hurting her in anyway."

Lee just stood there, not knowing what to do or what Kiba was doing to his beloved friend. But his muscles were tense, ready to defend if Kiba does try anything.

"First, you get Asuka completely to the ground, face down." Kiba forced her whole body to face the ground and stay there by putting his foot in between her shoulder blades.

"Kiba! Get off of me! You know I hate it when you do this!" She yelled at him as she tried to grab his leg and use her own legs to knock him off.

"Wait about ten seconds in this position and..."

Her struggling was easing up. "Kiba... quit it... I'll... I'll hurt you... I swear this." Her struggling soon ceased and her eyes were droopy.

Kiba helped her up, but she was limp, so she didn't stand on her own. "And you've now got a tired, calm, Asuka... sometimes she falls asleep." She fell asleep while Kiba was holding her up by her arm. "Um... you wanna take it from here?" Kiba asked as he gave Asuka to Lee, he held her bridal style.

"How did you learn something like this?" Lee asked as he stared at his teammate, she was completely knocked out.

"Well, it was an accident really... we were playing around and I pinned her down one day and she fell asleep. It was weird, but when she woke up I did the same thing and she fell asleep again. She's a weird one alright." He jokingly said while crossing his arms over his chest. "Well, I'll see you later, bye Lee." He waved at him as he walked off.

Lee looked at his teammate again.

_Well... that ruins my plan for dinner. What am I suppose to do now?... What would Asuka do if I were so easily put to sleep?... I got it!_

Lee bought a cold water bottle from a vender and set Asuka down and propped her up against him. He then tilled her head to the side and placed the water bottle on her neck.

Her eyes shot wide and sat up. "What the heck!? What happened?! Grr... where's Kiba." Her eyes filled with flames, fists clenched her nails nearly broke the skin.

Lee put his hand on her shoulder. "Asuka, calm down, Kiba's long gone."

She sighed and got up lazily, easily loosing her step and Lee caught her, letting her prop herself up with him as her support.

"You're not going to do that 'trick' on me one day right?" She asked nervously and averted her eyes. "You're too nice for that."

"Hmm... Maybe one day." He smiled and winked at her.

"I don't like this one bit..." she said depressingly, letting her head hang.

Lee patted her back comfortably. "Don't worry, at least you wont see it coming." He laughed to himself.

_I still don't like the idea of him actually knowing that 'trick'... _

She sighed and Lee took her hand and led her down the street.

"Are you hungry?"

"To be honest, not really, I don't have that big of an appetite like you." She nervously smiled and patted her belly.

"Oh..." he averted his eyes and silently kept walking.

"I guess I am slightly hungry." She lightly squeezed his hand and his eyes filled with glee again.

"Alright then! I know just the place." He was about to start running, but she pulled him back.

"Remember, I still have that beta fish, so I can't run." She looked up at him.

"Oh, right..." he nervously tapped his foot.

"My apartment isn't too far from here, I could go drop off my beta fish and teddy bear and we could run wherever we want." She pointed to her home with her thumb.

"Yah, I'll go with you." He smiled

They went to her apartment and she put the beta fish in new water in a clear bowl and then set her teddy bear next to the violet Neji gave her earlier that was still perky.

She left her apartment, locking the door behind her and told Hatsuharu that she would be back later. He let her go with Lee and went to go hang out with Kiba or Naruto, whoever he found first.

"You ready to go?" Lee questioned.

"Yah." She happily said while taking his hand into hers.

"Lets go!" Lee exclaimed and leaped onto the roofs of the village while still holding hands, so Asuka was close behind.

Within seconds they stopped and they had traveled a far distance. Stopping in front of a small restaurant she had known of, but never went in. She was never the one to try new things alone, and they didn't accept dogs inside so there wasn't any way that she would go in without somebody at least.

Lee opened the door for her and she entered. The inside was nice and traditional looking with Eastern dragon designs on the walls and floral designs on the tables. The tables had soft looking cushions to sit on with little a single snapdragon flower in a small clear glass vase sitting on the table.

Lee led her to a two seated table and they sat across from each other. A young, cute waitress in a traditional kimono handing them a menu.

"Would you like anything to drink?" She chirped.

"Jasmine tea please." Asuka ordered.

"Water." Lee followed.

The waitress nodded and bowed, leaving them to get their drinks.

"What are you thinking of getting?" Lee asked, still reading his menu.

"I might go with some dangos and dumplings... not sure yet." She looked up at Lee, he was still reading his menu. "What about you?"

"Some lightly spiced curry with a side of rice... maybe something else..."

"Lee, I'll pay for my half."

He sighed and put his menu down, looking at her with soft eyes. "No, I agreed to pay for it in the beginning. You were fine with it, weren't you?" He questioned.

"Well... at first, because I thought you were only going to pay for small stuff, like that ice cream and that teddy bear and beta fish." She folded her arms and laid her head down on the table.

"But, now I feel like I owe you. I know you're just nice like that, but then I feel like a burden for letting you pay for everything." She traced the floral designs on the table with her index finger, looking down at the table and refusing to look into Lee's eyes.

"So, you feel like a burden when somebody treats you for a night out?" He queered, still not comprehending.

"Well... Tell me, why are you treating me for a night out?"

"Because, it's your birthday. Plus, you're my best friend, I'd do anything for you." He replied softly, still staring at her, basically silently pleading for her to look up at him.

She was tempted to look up at him, but refused the little voice in her head and kept tracing the floral designs. "I feel guilty though."

"What?" Lee scratched his chin.

"I don't know... it seems that I need to give something in return for your kindness."

"You're not happy, are you?" Lee asked depressingly, letting his head hang and his eyes cover in shadows.

"Lee, I am happy," She looked up at him finally, her eyes burning for unexplained reasons. "I am overjoyed with the day you showed me. I am happy that you did this all for me but... you made me feel..."

He looked back up at her, seeing that tears were forming. "Feel... what?"

"Nothing, I feel like I am nothing." She got up and left, Lee quickly got up and followed her out of he building.

"Asuka!" Lee caught up to her and grabbed her hand, making her stop. "How do I make you feel like your nothing!?"

"How do I explain it in words you can understand?..." She thought for a moment. "Think about a Queen, what is her purpose?"

"To rule over the kingdom with her King."

"No, she is merely _there_ with the King, barley lifting a finger, only being a statue in an art museum, the only purpose of a Queen is to be admired." Tears streamed down her face as she refused to look at Lee again. "Then what is a purpose of a princess?! Only to be prepared for that same purpose, only to be a statue. The only purpose of a Queen and princess, is to be admired and serve their husbands."

Lee turned her around and gripped her shoulders. "What are you getting at?"

"You've treated me like a Queen today, some girls may like being treated like that, get everything for free practically, but I don't. It makes me feel like I am a painting in a museum, the only purpose is to be admired." Her knees were weak, she was tempted to let her legs completely fail her and fall to the ground and weep. But she couldn't, not now, she was prepared for the worse right now.

"So, you feel like you have no purpose?" Lee asked, kneeling down slightly to look her in the eyes, but it was no use, her eyes where locked with the ground.

She nodded, not moving anything else in her body. She'd be considered an undead person if it wasn't for her silently choking up on her sobs.

"Asuka..." Lee took her into his arms and gently squeezed her. "If you had no purpose, then you wouldn't be a Shinobi, you would be like any other civilian in Konoha. But you're a Genin, soon to be a Chuunin, then a Jounin no doubt. You do have a purpose, everyone has a purpose."

She cried into his chest and slowly accepted the hug. "Th-then what... i-is my pur-purpose?" she choked out.

"I can't answer that, only you can, it may take time, but you'll find it." He rubbed her back and massaged her scalp, trying to ease her sorrow.

She laughed to herself, still choking on her sobs.

"What's so funny?" He queered.

She looked up at him while smiling, tears still falling from her cheeks. "You must think I'm pretty stupid huh? Crying over a great date you took me on."

Lee smiled warmly with his eyes softening and put a hand on her cheek, wiping away her tears. "No, not at all. Your probably the best person to take on a date, the guy doesn't have to spend so much on you."

She laughed more and nuzzled into his chest, "yah."

"Ready to go home?" He asked.

"Yah, I am." Lee put an arm around her shoulders, and she put an arm around his waist.

It seemed like they fitted perfectly as Lee rubbed her arm, and she laid her head on his chest as he walked her home.

"Are you going to be ok for tomorrow? We will probably have another C rank mission." He asked her as they were just yards away from her home.

"Yah, I will, don't worry about it." She smiled up at him as she fished for her key.

Lee unlocked the door and opened it for her, dangling the keys in front of her again.

She sighed and smiled, snatching her keys and stood at the foot of the door. "Thanks for the date Lee, I really did enjoy myself." She smiled warmly at him.

He returned it, but then quickly averted his eyes.

She gave him a questioning look. "What is it?"

He lowered his head and nervously scratching the back of it. "Um... come here." He put an arm around her waist and drew her close, their chests were touching, and their faces were so close she could feel his face radiating with a heat filled blush.

"Lee, you're so cute." She smiled at him again, wrapping an arm around his neck and placing a hand on his shoulder.

He put his other hand on her upper back and trailed up to the back of her head, threading his fingers through her silky soft butt-length hair. They gently pulled each other in, their noses crossed and he tilted his head slightly. Her hand that was on his shoulder went around his neck and helped her gain leverage. Their heads were more even now as she was on her tip-toes. They tasted each others warm, sweet breath. Their lips lightly brushed, not even considered a kiss yet-

"BARK!" A deep dog bark interrupted them and tackled them both to the ground. The dog claimed Asuka's face and licked it thoroughly.

"Hey Hatsuharu!" She hugged her companion warmly around his neck.

Lee was on the ground next to her, he looked over to his teammates and laughed. He got up and helped her up.

She was about to go inside, but turned around and smiled cheerfully at him. "Thanks for a wonderful day Lee, see you tomorrow." She winked and went inside with Hatsuharu and shut the door behind her.

Leaving Lee on her front door step.

He smiled and started his way back to his home.

_Maybe next time._

He blushed all the way to his house, vowing to never forget this wonderful day, and probably a lesson he'll never forget. Let Asuka pay for something when taking her out on a date.

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**Dang… this was long… over 4,800 words long… hope you liked it :) I liked it a lot, and you found out more about Asuka. **

**Reminder: if I get 30 reviews for this story, I will post the next chapter the next day**

**See you all next week!**

**2/25/13**

***Hammer Time!***

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	17. Hammer Time!

**I am so sorry I didn't upload Monday or Tuesday ;-; there was a terrible wind storm that knocked out my internet. I would upload at school, but it blocks the website… so no. At least I published today, and you can have all of my chocolate if you want! I am so sorry; there won't be a double upload, because I am emotionally dying right now…**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 16

Hammer Time!

Asuka waited at the gate of the Hidden Leaf village with her wolf companion, Hatsuharu. Her team was given a C rank mission like Lee predicted yesterday. Asuka was feeling mostly emotionally drained from last night, causing her to only have a few hours of sleep in. She was a few minutes early to meet up with everyone, always was a bad habit of hers. Wanting to make sure she was prepared before the mission, she went through her weapons pouches, one strapped to her right thigh, both ankles just in case she gets pinned, two on each side of her hips, and the last one resting on her butt.

_Let's see here... All ten Kunai Claws accounted for, six in the back, two on each sides, good._

She put the Kunai Claws back in their pouches and emptied out the rest of her pouches.

_Twenty shuriken, ten kunai, two spare in each ankle holster... I'm good to go now._

She put her weapons back in their pouches and stood up again, looking at her partner then at her wristwatch.

"Gah, only five more minutes and they should be here... what to do?" She tapped her chin, looking back at her partner's satchel strapped around his chest. "I should make sure you have all you need too, you know?" She kneeled down next to him and took off the satchel then emptied it.

_Hm... yup! Has all the medical supplies we need just in case I mess up again._

She put everything back and strapped the satchel around his chest and secured it, making sure it won't fall off during combat... again.

"Looks like you're already here, just as expected." Neji acknowledged.

"Hey Neji..." She covered her mouth as she yawned and lay down on Hatsuharu's belly.

"Are you tired?" Neji questioned.

"Yah, I had one heck of a day yesterday." She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to hold back the tired tears slipping out.

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"Um... It's not that I don't mind, it's just that... I don't know..." She scratched the crown of her head and tilting it back to see Neji upside down. She sighed and looked back at the greenery of the forest outside the gate.

He gave her a questioning look, "What do you mean?"

"It was an accident, but Lee made me feel like I have no purpose... You know how I feel about that, right?" He nodded and let her continue. "Well, Lee took me out on a great date; and before you ask, we are not girlfriend and boyfriend, got it?"

"Got it." He confirmed.

"But, he bought everything for me, even got me a beta fish and a teddy bear at the fair. Then when he took me to dinner, I wanted to pay for my half of the food, but he wouldn't let me." She looked down, messing with her headband that was still tied around her neck.

"Don't you hate it when people do that though?" He asked.

"Yah... I do, but he made up for it, plus he's my friend. He learned, so I don't mind." She snuggled into Hatsuharu's warm, soft fur.

"Better get up, Guy and Lee are coming." Neji warned her.

She quickly got up and so did Hatsuharu. Asuka blacked out for a moment, losing her balance but her partner helped her stay up as Guy and Lee came to a halt to their group.

"Is everyone ready to go hunt the bear?" Guy asked cheerfully.

Neji and Asuka nodded as Lee saluted and said, "Yes sensei!"

"Good youth Lee! Let's head out." Guy exclaimed proudly as he pointed outside the gate.

The team headed out on a steady pace to the area the bear had been attacking the passing merchants. The bear has been reported to kill humans, after it started killing, it was made a problem. Guy's team was assigned to simply kill the bear and take it back to sell the hide along with the meat.

"You guys are slowpokes, you can't even keep up with your sensei." Guy happily shouted. "Asuka, I expect more out of you."

She sighed and looked at Hatsuharu.

He gave her a queered look and stayed by her side.

She looked over at her teammate Neji.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and quickened his pace.

She followed behind and kept formation. Neji quickly got in front with Lee to his right and Asuka to his left with Hatsuharu in between Lee and Asuka. Guy kept to the back just in case anything goes wrong.

"Hatsuharu, do you smell anything?" Asuka asked.

He tilted his head up and sniffed the air as they jumped through the trees. He let out a deep bark and got all jittery.

"Neji, let Hatsuharu take the lead." Asuka ordered.

Neji nodded and slowed his pace as Hatsuharu took the head and sniffed the air more. They took a sharp right and abruptly stopped as he leapt to the ground and sniffed it.

"You got anything boy?" Asuka questioned.

A few silent seconds pass, then he pointed with his nose to some bear tracks that were near twice the size of Guy's hands.

"They did tell us the bear was big, even though it's a grizzly bear, it's still big for its size." Neji stated as he stared at the bear tracks.

Hatsuharu growled and clawed at the ground.

"Oh boy..." Asuka rasped.

"What? What does that mean?" Guy queered.

"It means we might be dealing with something more than we thought, look, human tracks." She knelt down and brushed away the leaves to show boot tracks near the size of the bear tracks.

"It could have been somebody the bear was hunting." Lee stated.

"Could have, but if the bear was hunting this human, then why do they have the same sent?" She asked as she stood back up with Hatsuharu by her side.

"We don't have all the clues we need to answer these questions," Guy stated, "let's follow these tracks." They all nodded in agreement. "Formation three, go!"

Neji, Lee, and Guy took to the trees as Asuka and Hatsuharu stuck to the ground and followed the tracks.

_If what I'm thinking is true, then this mission just turned into a B rank. Keep calm Asuka, you can do this._

She took a deep breathe and exhaled calmly, keeping her focus on her surroundings. The tracks ended unexplainably, she looked at her companion to see he's whimpering and digging at the ground. Her eyes shot wide and grabbed a hold of Hatsuharu by the scruff of the neck. "Jump!" She shouted as her and Hatsuharu jumped back and the ground quaked, showing a bear claw reaching out to them.

They slid back on the loose dirt and came to a halt as they used their chakra to help them. The bear clawed it's way out, showing it's filthy light brown thick coat and his mouth stained with blood.

"That's our bear..." Asuka stated. "But where's the human?" She asked as she quickly took in her surroundings.

"Agh!"

Neji came flying through the trees and stopped after he crashed through a few trees.

Guy and Lee jumped out of their hiding places as a tall, big man came out with a hammer and a smile on his face. "It's too bad you couldn't have fallen into my trap, now you will only suffer more."

"Just stand still, and this will all be over soon." The bear spoke up.

_Well, I have seen weirder things..._ Asuka thought as she went over to Neji.

"Neji! Are you ok?!" She helped her teammate up and took a look at the back of his head. "Are you able to use your Byakugan?"

"Gah! Augh... After a few moments, I think I can, that guy with the hammer got me pretty good back there." He said as he seemed to struggle to point at the husky man.

The bear came charging at them, the earth quaked beneath it's giant paws, causing Asuka to accidentally drop Neji.

Neji tried to get up, but the earth wouldn't quit shaking.

Asuka pulled out a Kunai Claw and prepared for an attack. The bear stood on it's hind legs, it stood nearly 15 feet high, towering over Asuka well over ten feet.

She still kept her ground, seeing a chance to attack and she took it. Grabbing her altered kunai and lunging to the bear, sinking the kunai into the bear's stomach and clinging to the bear as she repeatedly stabbed the bear; making him stumble backwards.

"Get off stupid girl!" The bear scolded as he grabbed and clawed at her back.

Hatsuharu came from the back and jumped onto the bear; his mouth full of flames as he bit and clawed at the bear's head and neck.

The bear let out a roaring growl, fire blazed in his eyes as he started to run around and try to shake the stragglers off of him.

"Earth style: Rock Spire justu!" The bear shouted, the earth cracked and out came jagged edges of the earth's crust. The bear charged to the edged earth and ran over it, trying to scrape her off.

Her weighted jacket provided as good armor on her upper back, but her lower back was unprotected, her black dress was in shreds now as she tumbled off the bear and tried mustering her senses back to stand up. She saw no use for her shredded dress and ripped the dress off. Revealing dark purple short-shorts and a black corset with a nice lace job. Her jacket, somehow, was still intact, so she didn't tear that off.

She silently laughed to herself and smiled at the bear who was struggling to get Hatsuharu off. "That was my favorite dress, you'll pay for that." She wiped away the blood on the corner of her mouth and showed a toothy grin as she sped off, only leaving dust behind.

The bear was now enraged, not able to get the giant wolf off it's back. Asuka did some hand seals and placed her palm on Hatsuharu neck as she cart-wheeled over him and landed on the other side. His mouth filled with icy hot flames and burst out of him all over the bear. The bear's fur now looked patchy and singed.

"What did you do?!" The bear shouted and continued to buck wildly and run into trees.

"I merely transferred the jutsu, the wolf on your back cannot perform more complicated jutsu like the fireball jutsu, which he just did. I, myself cannot do fire based attacks well on my own, Hatsuharu, the wolf on your back, can though. So, I perform the hand signs needed for the jutsu, and transfer the chakra containing the jutsu, to him. He uses his fire chakra to trigger the jutsu and add the power needed for it." She patted her hands and smiled evilly. "Pretty handy huh?"

The bear was now enflamed with anger, "Lang! I need help!" The bear shouted to the tall, husky man who seemed to keep missing Lee and Guy with his giant hammer.

"I'm on it." He took out a kunai and sliced his hand, then placed it on the ground. All sorts of seals surrounded his hand on the ground, a puff of smoke appeared and showed two more bears smaller than the first.

One was black, and about less than half the size as the Grizzly bear, about the same size as Hatsuharu. The other one was a bit more 'pretty' looking, it's coat was more silky looking with dark brown fur and honey colored spot on it's forehead and another spot covering the underbelly.

"Hozuki, brother" The female honey bear looked to the black bear. "You ready?"

"Yes, sister Hani," Hozuki agreed as he looked back at his sister. "Looks like brother Gurizuri needs our help." He smiled devilishly as he looked at his bigger brother.

"Oh just shut up and help you worthless hides!" Gurizuri, the Grizzly bear scolded as he slammed up against another tree, knocking Hatsuharu loose, but didn't completely shake him.

"On it." Hozuki said as Hani nodded as she charged to Asuka, and Hozuki charged to Hatsuharu.

"This battle's getting intense..." Asuka whispered as she performed more hand seals. "Going to have to do this... Water style: Water dragon jutsu!" water came from the green life around them and formed into the shape of an Eastern dragon. It was nowhere near as big as Kakashi could form, but it was a decent size for the charging bear.

The water dragon surrounded the bear and formed a hovering sphere, keeping the honey bear in the middle and spinning her around. The bear tried swimming, but it was no use, the current was too strong for the honey bear to handle.

Hozuki saw this and left Gurizuri to fight off the wolf to help his little sister. He let out a giant roar and charged at Asuka.

_Crap! I can't handle two of these!_

She frantically looked back and forth from the honey bear to the black bear.

_If I move too much, the jutsu will release, and all that chakra will go to waste!_

The black bear advanced to her, just merely ten yards away from her now.

_Please trip and fall. Please trip and fall. Please trip and fall..._

She tensed up, ready to take the blow, but right before it happened... it didn't happen. She opened her eyes to see Neji in front of her, using his chakra filled palm to stop the bear and make him vomit right before her.

Neji turned his head to look at her with the corner of his eye.

"Your ok! And your Byakugan is working!" She stated happily.

"If it wasn't for you distracting them long enough, I probably would be seriously injured, it's the least I could do." He smiled at her as his eyebrows furrowed. "Hold that honey bear a little longer and it'll be the end for her." He tipped his head to the side to show that the honey bear let out a bubble of air and kept spinning.

"Gentle Fist: two palm!" Neji Hit the black bear in both of it's forearms. "Four palm!" He hit the bear in it's hind legs and chest, sending the bear back and knocking him to the ground, struggling to get up but couldn't.

"Nice..." Asuka complimented as she struggled to keep the chakra flowing into the sphere. "Could you take my jacket off for me? It's taking up quite a bit of energy..." She slowly breathed, trying desperately to keep her focus.

He nodded and helped her. She slowly let her left arm bend, so then Neji could slip one side of the jacket off, as soon as the jacket only covered a forth of her body her arm shot straight back up. Some water spilled during the process, but stopped when both of her hands were focused on the sphere. Neji took her jacket off for her and set it on the ground.

She sighed with relief. "Thank you Neji, could you go help Hatsuharu?" She queered as she looked at her bruised and blood covered companion still taking a beating from the Grizzly bear. Neji nodded and headed to him, preparing for another Gentle fist attack.

The honey bear soon after fell limp, not moving one bit to fight the current. Her eyes were closed and mouth slightly gaped. Asuka released the jutsu and breathed more heavily from exhaustion. She went over to Hani and tried finding a pulse. There wasn't one pulse, nor was there any sign of life.

Asuka took in her surroundings again, seeing that Neji and Hatsuharu were now working together to defeat the grizzly, and Guy and Lee were working in sync to defeat the husky man.

Her body was weak as she tried to get up, her chakra near depleted, which also meant her physical energy was nearly completely gone too. She knew if she so much as tried making a simple jutsu such as a single clone, theorized, she could die. If any Shinobi tried using up all of their chakra, there is a chance they could die.

Hatsuharu had the supplies needed to regain at least some of her chakra so then she wouldn't be a burden to the team. But he was busy with Neji. Guy and Lee... were somewhere... but where? She took in her surroundings again. Finally gaining her footing and standing up a bit more strongly now. Her back injuries were still slowing her down, making it hard to straighten up her back to have a better view.

"Asuka!" Lee and Guy shouted from afar.

She didn't know why they were shouting at her, but she felt the ground quake under feet, causing her to fall to the ground again and struggle to get back up but failed trying.

They husky man stood before her, towering over her by a good four or three feet. "If I can't take down your speedy friend, I'll kill you instead!" He swung his hammer toward her quivering, weak body.

She couldn't move and she knew it. All she could do was block and hope for the best. The hammer made a strong contact with her frail body and sent her flying through the several trees. When she didn't hit any more trees but kept flying, she tried getting a grasp of her surroundings and only saw one thing. The earth's edge and the sky. That's when she realized...

She was falling.

_Damn... My body is in no condition to try to run on the wall of this cliff... and my strength isn't near strong enough right now to throw a Kunai Claw into the side of the cliff and just hang there till somebody comes. __She sighed as her hair whipped around her bloody face. She smiled and laughed silently to herself. If I'm going to die, I'll die smiling..._

She closed her eyes and welcomed death with open arms, just waiting for the impact of the hard ground at the bottom. After a few moments, it never came, then she figured out that she wasn't falling, she was in somebody's arms.

She opened her eyes to the person who saved her.

"Neji?... You actually came... thanks." She smiled weakly at him and let her arms hang as Neji cradled her like a baby and stared down at her as his feet clinged to the side of the cliff.

"Your my teammate, plus I'm the leader, I wouldn't be a good leader if I were to let you fall to your death." He stated plainly as he started to run up the cliff.

"Is it over?" She questioned.

"No, it's almost over though, Hatsuharu and I killed the grizzly, and Lee got really mad when that guy hit you with the hammer. I think he even opened up one of the inner gates, I'm not sure, I was too busy trying to catch up to you."

"That's... good, I guess." She smiled weakly

Neji slowed down and started fast walking up the mountain. "My chakra is pretty low right now too, so we won't get up this cliff as fast." He sighed and shifted his arms to a more comfortable position.

"I guess you're happy that I'm not wearing my jacket huh?" She teased.

He sighed, "Yeah, I don't think I could have carried you for long if you were wearing it." He took a quick look of her and stared back up. "You're actually lighter than I thought you were."

She quietly laughed weakly. "Thanks..." She looked at the cliff's wall of earth, then at her feet and tried to focus her chakra.

Neji quickly jabbed chest and held her again. "I know what you're trying to do, and no, you can not climb the wall in your current condition, which is why I temporarily blocked your chakra." He glared at her and quickly focused back onto the wall.

She sighed sadly and just let him carry her up the cliff; seeing as there is no reason to fight her teammates grasp on her.

They got up the cliff and finally got on some 180 degree ground, instead of just being on 90 degree for who knows how long... Then the husky man that was wielding the hammer flew over their heads and down the cliff.

"Looks like the fight's over..." Neji stated.

She nodded in agreement and they both looked ahead to see a green blur heading their way.

"Asuka!" Lee ran up to Neji and Asuka with eyes filled with worry. "Are you ok?! Can you walk?!" Lee continued asking her questions without giving her a chance to answer.

She sighed again and merely just touched his forehead with the tip of her index finger. "Lee, I'll be fine if you just give me time. Some of my bones are only fractured, and no, I can't walk."

Hatsuharu walked up to Neji and stood next to him, looking up at him and tilting his head toward his back. Neji nodded and put Asuka face down on Hatsuharu's back.

Guy appeared behind them and gave them all the 'good guy' pose. "Good work today team! Especially you Asuka, you showed incredible strength and endurance today!" He patted her mid back roughly.

She cringed in pain as the blood started flowing out of the deep claw wounds the bear left on her back. She then tightened her grip on Hatsuharu's fur and grind her teeth.

Neji then put a hand on Guy's arm, stopping him from patting her back again. "She's in pain sensei."

He stopped and looked down at his student to see the blood oozing out of her wounds again.

"Oh... sorry about that." Guy wiped the blood on his hands away and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I would treat you're wounds but..."

She held up her hand "I know sensei, Hatsuharu can do it." She patted her companion's head and he went behind a tree with a wide trunk.

"We'll wait a little further out and scout the area," Guy told her, "When you're done, come find us."

She gave a thumb's up from behind the tree. Then they left her there, but Neji knew to stay behind just in case anything bad happens. He kept his back to the tree and sat down while waiting for his teammate to finish patching up.

"Grrr... I'm tired of getting hurt like this..." Asuka stated from behind the tree.

Neji perked up and listened by closing his eyes and focusing on his hearing.

"I feel so weak... I wish I didn't feel like a burden to Lee or Neji. I know they won't say that to my face... Maybe Neji would say that, but not Lee." she groaned, and by the sound of it, she punched the tree.

_Am I really that cold to her..._ Neji asked himself as he opened his eyes again and gazed up at the tree tops. _Surely I'm not that cold._ He closed his eyes and focused again.

"Neji even saved me this time! He never does that, he usually lets Lee do that. Then again, I did defend him from that bear... He probably thought he owed me or something."

_Am I REALLY that cold to her? Sure the way I see things makes her mad, but does she really think that?_ He took off his headband and felt the mark on his forehead.

'Caged Bird', since he's a branch in the Hyuga clan, instead of the main branch like his cousins, Hinata and Hanabi, he is destined to protect them. If he fails to show he will protect them... the main branch could decide whether to kill him on the spot or not. Either way, everyone shares one destiny, we all die. He has accepted this path, whether he wanted to or not, destiny for him was already decided for him when he was born.

Asuka though, does not agree with him. She believes with hard work, you can do anything, reach any milestone, and achieve any goal you set. To Neji, she was oblivious to this subject. To be honest, Neji does think that one day she will defeat him. But that was only the little voice in the back of his head speaking, not him... so to speak of.

He put his headband back on and focused on her conversation with her companion.

"Hatsuharu! Easy, my ribs are cracked again." She raised her voice. "I guess I just need to give Neji more of a chance, he did give me a violet yesterday after all... How did he know I liked violets... unless he actually remembers that one time we talked for a long time."

_Yah, I did remember. It was sometime during January that we talked to one another during a D ranked mission of babysitting a three year old. We were bored and she kept asking questions, and then got me when she said "that we're a team, which means the slightest of doubt one another, equals death." That's when we actually connected, and she made me feel... better somehow_. He looked down at his bandaged hands, remembering the burden he has to carry everyday for the rest of his life.

"Help me up... fine, I'll ride your back, but when we get back to the village, I'll make it up by intense training." Hatsuharu sighed and came out from behind the tree with a bandaged Asuka wearing a plain black cloak.

Neji got up and gave her a questioning look. "Why are you wearing a cloak?"

"What are you doing here?" Asuka retorted.

"I asked you first." He stated.

"The corset I was wearing proved to be part of the reason why my ribs are more bent then suppose to be. So Hatsuharu took it off and bandaged me, now I'm wearing this cloak. Your turn." She answered.

Neji shook the 'dirty' thoughts from his mind and answered. "I didn't feel like hiding in a tree this time and stayed on the ground, just in case anything else goes wrong." He started to lead the way, "Guy and Lee should be up ahead not too far from here."

He continued to lead the way as Asuka rode Hatsuharu, who was trailing Neji. "So, how much did you hear of our conversation?" She asked nervously.

"All of it... do you really think I'm cold?" He asked.

"I never said-"

"You intended it." He responded sharply.

"Well..." She started nervously, "You never really have any support for me or Lee. We train everyday and try our hardest to surpass each other and you. I give you support, helping you master some of the hardest moves for somebody of your age to learn by yourself. Yet, after all these months, nearly a whole year and you still don't support me or Lee." She looked down disappointedly, just waiting for Neji to come back with something stupid and witty about 'destiny' or something like that.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something.

She gave him a queered look. "What did you say?"

He furrowed his brow and cringed. "You're right..."

"What do you mean?" She asked with a hint of shock in her tone.

"I still believe destiny is set from birth, but, I should try helping you and Lee. I've been a bad leader lately..." He perked up his head and connected a stare with her. "I'll be a better leader for the upcoming Chunin exams, I promise." He smiled that 'competitive' smile of his whenever he was sure of something.

She smiled back at him, "I'll make sure you hold up to that promise Neji."

He nodded and continued to lead the way. Within a few yards, they could tell the difference of their sensei and teammates green jumpsuits from the rest of the greenery environment. Lee saw them and ran up to them.

"Are you guys ok?" He asked frantically.

"Yes Lee, we're fine." Asuka gave him a warm smile. "I'm ready to go home sensei."

"I think we all are to be honest." Guy agreed. "But the sun is going down, and we need to rest, we won't make it to the village before dark if we try going in our condition." He referred to Asuka, but didn't bother to point it out as Lee and Neji both glanced at her. She groaned and face palmed. "Alright, Lee and I already got what we need for tonight, so all is set. Noodles are already cooking, it should be ready in a few minutes."

"I think I'm just going to sleep without eating, I'm not that hungry..." Asuka said as she rubbed her shoulder.

"But, you need to keep your strength up!" Lee implied.

"Lee, not tonight, my stomach has had enough for today." Hatsuharu nodded in agreement and lay down on the soft dirt just about two to three yards away from the fire. Asuka gently slid off him and nuzzled into her favorite spot below his shoulder blades, and formed a fetal position.

Lee tried to advance to her, but Guy put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "No Lee, she's had enough for today. If anything, she'll probably scavenge around here for food before any of us wake up."

Lee sighed and sat down, waiting for the noodles to be ready. He glanced over to his friend lying on her wolf. Her frail body covered by the black cloak... looked like she was pretty comfy.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_Asuka was back in Konoha, but it looked more... vivid. People were walking faster than usual, bumping into her and nearly knocking her down. She took a closer look at the civilians faces, they were scared of something... but what?_

_"Hey, what's going on?" She reached out and grabbed the nearest person, but her hand went straight through him. _

_She blinked several times out of shock and looked at her hands. They were transparent looking, yet translucent at the same time. She looked around a bit more and headed up stream of the crowd of people. Somehow she was able to pass through people, but yet people were able to bump into her. Nothing made sense right now..._

_She finally got to the source of fear the people were running from, to see it was the same person from her nightmare on the night of Lee's birthday. _

_"Sister..." the tall, lanky white hair boy said raspy, "I was beginning to miss you." He stuck out his tongue and licked his blood covered lips. "Come give your brother a hug." He ordered as he wobbled over to her. _

_She tried to move, but her legs wouldn't move. She looked down to see nothing was restraining them. "Why can't I move?!" She demanded. _

_"Isn't it obvious? You missed me too..." He answered with a creepy smile. _

_She looked around more frantically, seeing her teammates about to run past her. "Lee! Neji! Help me! Please!" She cried out to them. _

_They both stopped and glared at her. _

_"Why should we help you?" Lee asked. _

_"You're the one who abandoned us, and brought that _**_thing_**_ to us." Neji stated coldly. _

_"No! I... I would never!" She tried moving towards them, but her legs still refused to move. _

_"Would you like it more if we were gone?" Lee asked harshly. "You did leave us, expecting us to die." He walked over to her and took a kunai out of her pouch. "I loved you, which is why I'm doing this," He brought the kunai to his neck. "You need to suffer, as much as I suffered when you left me to die." He slit his throat, splattering his blood onto her face and her clothes. _

_He fell to the ground and disappeared into dust. _

_"LEE!" Asuka screeched as she tried reaching the ground, her tears staining the ground as they slid off her face. "Neji! Help me PLEASE!" she yelled to her teammate. _

_"You deserve to die, but you must first suffer loss." He turned his back on her and disappeared with the wind. _

_"NEJI!" She wished she could just give up and fall to her knees. But whatever was holding her legs wouldn't allow it. She stared at her 'brother' who was now right in front of her. _

_"What did you learn sister?" He said as he stroked her cheek and messed with her hair. _

_"That you're sick! This dream is sick! I wish I could wake up." She chocked on her words as more tears streamed down her face. _

_"You will... In time." the boy vanished, and everything was filled with water. _

_Her legs were free, but she couldn't breath. She swam to the top, but was blocked by a wall of ice. She punched and kicked the ice, but it was no use. Her lungs felt like a burning fire that was using up all of her oxygen. She couldn't take it anymore, her reflexes acted and her mouth shot open and tried breathing. Her lungs now filled with water and her field of vision was now clouded as she drifted off and accepted the cold embrace of death._

Asuka woke up in a sheet of sweat mixed with tears as she sat up and held her beating heart. She looked around and saw Hatsuharu worried sick about her. He licked and nuzzled his way into Asuka's arms. She petted and scratched his ears. Taking a look around their temporary camp, she saw Neji sleeping silently as he lay opposite from a snoring Lee.

She crawled over to Lee and stroked his cheek and feeling his hair, then went over to Neji and did the same thing.

_Yup, this is real... good_.

She sighed with relief and crawled back over to Hatsuharu, snuggling back into his warm fur and going back to sleep.

* * *

**Alright, weird dreams and Asuka nearly died… what a cliché, I know, but I wanted her to have a few near-death experiences, and this is one of them. So be prepared for a few tight, gut wrenching scenes in the future… In the near future? I don't know ;)**

**See you in a few days!**

**March 4 **

***So Close* **

**p.s. DUDE! That is the day of my English test! I'm so sad…**

**plus the 22nd this month was my birthday… so I'm a year closer to death, yah! **

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	18. So Close

**Yah! The test wasn't so hard. It was just reading and writing, nothing too difficult. And I actually uploaded this on time… how interesting. Remember, it's double upload week, so I shall die, I love you all so much!**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 17

So Close

Months have past with Asuka's team, Neji kept his word and exceptionally became a better leader; understanding his team's weaknesses and strengths better now. Lee usually does the distractions, and Asuka hides with Hatsuharu to do a sneak attack. He even helped Asuka with her training, giving her advice and seeing her grow stronger with each passing day he helped her.

Guy was impressed with the teamwork his team had developed over the months of training together and coming up with strategies for each C rank mission they received. Lee and Neji seemed to get into less fights, and whenever they did, Asuka would break it up and take the lead for a while.

Naruto has also grown well, and graduated a few weeks ago. Along with Kiba and a few others Asuka knew and enjoyed being around. She was surprised to hear Shikamaru pass though, considering he's too lazy to do a lot of things. But was happy for him anyways.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

It was summer time in Konoha, the flowers were still at their prime, trees gave the perfect shade, peace and quiet could be found easily in the forest. So Asuka went to the forest, away from her team and in the embrace of sweet nature. Not too far into the forest she found a cute looking brown cat with a bow in its ear.

"Aren't you sweet?" She happily said as she petted the cat.

The cat purred with delight and rubbed up against her legs.

"You sure are cute, wanna walk with me?" She asked as she pointed to her shoulder.

The cat hopped onto her shoulder and rested on her shoulders as she began to walk off.

"LET GO OF THE TARGET ASUKA!"

She heard screaming from behind her, so she whipped around and hopped back as Naruto lunged at her.

"What are you talking about?" She queered.

A girl with pink hair came from behind and so did the infamous Uchiha Sasuke, looking as bored and 'not amused' at all.

"That cat! We need that cat! Believe it!" Naruto shouted.

"You could lower your voice and just kindly ask you know." She stated as she took the cat off her shoulders by the scruff of its neck and handed it to Naruto.

The cat screeched as soon as Naruto got a hold of it and started clawing his face.

Sasuke held his ear piece down, "Yah, it's the cat, it has the red bow." he stated plainly.

"Out of all the people, Naruto get's stuck with him. I can't see why girls like him..." Asuka mumbled under her breath.

"Hey!" The pink haired girl raised her voice to Asuka. "Don't you talk about Sasuke like that!"

"... Hi, my name is Asuka, and who might you be?" Asuka jokingly asked.

She growled and clenched her fists. "My name is Haruno Sakura... Did you even hear me!?" She yelled at her.

"Well, I don't see the 'great' Uchiha standing up for himself." She retorted as she glanced at a un-amused Sasuke.

Sakura's cheeks puffed with air and her face turned red.

Asuka laughed and poked her cheeks, making her release the air she held. "Have a good day noob." She chirped as she waved them good bye and left.

_How annoying, I can't even go on a walk without being disrupted in my own train of thoughts by a Sasuke fangirl._ She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose; making her way out of the forest.

"Hey," Asuka stopped and turned on her heels. "I have a request."

She straightened up and stared up at the tall figure. "Yes Kakashi sensei?"

"If you're not busy with your team, could you help my team?" He queered.

"Um... with what? And could I bring Hatsuharu?" She asked as she scratched the back of her head.

"Teamwork, I think they'll understand why they need experience to get strong, especially Naruto. And sure, seeing you two work together in sync may get them to understand the importance of teamwork."

"Ah, alright, I'll show them why experience is a good teacher." She nodded happily and gave him a toothy grin. "What time and where?"

"Around noon, training grounds toward the east, see yah there." He waved off and walked to his loud team (manly Naruto...)

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Asuka sighed as the cool, dry breeze brushed through her dark purple hair while she leaned up against a big tree in the training grounds. She looked over to her companion, he was taking nap. It had been nearly a full hour past noon, and she's already done her stretches to get prepared to spar with his team.

"Hey! What are you doing here!?"

Asuka lazily looked up at the person shouting at her.

"I'm here by our sensei's orders to spar your team." She said as she shifted against the tree to get into a more comfortable position. "Keep your voice down Naruto, you're too loud sometimes. I'm sure Kakashi sensei will tell you once he gets here." She perked up and looked around, sensing a familiar chakra presence. "Speak of the devil, Kakashi, what took you so long?" She queered.

"Oh you know... got lost on the path of life." He answered while averting his eye.

She laughed silently to herself and gently kicked Hatsuharu. He got up and stretched out his tired joints.

"Why is Asuka here!?" Naruto shouted to his sensei.

"She's here to teach you a lesson about teamwork, and experience." He answered as he pulled out his book. "You're always saying that you're going to be strong one day, right? Well, for one to be strong, they also need experience. You can't just read and expect to be a good ninja. They're are ninja out there who are younger, and stronger than me."

"Whoa! Seriously?!" Naruto was surprised.

"Asuka is here to teach you how strong a Genin, such as you, can be, but only through fighting, understood?" Kakashi finished explaining.

"No, not really..." Naruto answered as he scratched his chin.

"You idiot..." Sakura insulted. "We have to work together to beat her, if we lose, then we learn. If we win, then we have the satisfactory of beating somebody. It's a win-win."

"You seem to be on the right track..." Kakashi acknowledged as he turned a page in his book. "Asuka, while you're fighting them, I want you to tell them what they're doing wrong."

She nodded, "Yes Kakashi sensei." She turned to her opponents. "Are you guys ready?" She looked at them with a challenging smile.

"Hell yah I'm ready! Believe it!" Naruto cheered.

Sakura just nodded as she got in her poor fighting stance.

_Kakashi has a lot to teach these guys..._ Asuka thought regretfully.

"Let's get this over with..." Sasuke said as he wiped the dust off his shorts.

"Ladies first." Asuka winked at them.

"Why you!" Naruto got angry and charged at her with a punch.

She sighed and easily grabbed his wrist and threw him over her shoulder and into a tree.

"You need to observe you're opponent, if you have no idea what they're battle style is, then try distracting them and hide to see what sort of things they'll use to find you." She told him. She looked down at her partner, "If they're all like this, then I don't need you to fight with me till later like we discussed, understood?"

He nodded and sat down next to Kakashi, who was leaning up against a tree and reading his book.

"This is just sad... I'll make my move then, I'll be using taijutsu, so be prepared." She eyed the other two who seemed to observe her movements like she told them. She smirked and vanished into thin air.

Naruto gained his bearings and got back up while rubbing his head. The other two stuck together and looked around frantically for her. The only difference between the two was that Sasuke looked more relaxed and collected.

Asuka came from Sasuke's right side and went for an uppercut. He blocked it and tried countering with a low sweep; he failed at his attempt as she didn't budge.

"Good work Uchiha, I guess I should actually try going faster." She smirked at him and disappeared again. "Sakura... was it?" She hid in a tree a few yards from them. "Try being more calm and collected, like Uchiha. All three of you get back-to-back, if you have no idea where the enemy is coming from, it's best to have each other's backs at all times, this is called the 'triangle' defense, remember this." She sped off to the other side as Naruto got to his position with the rest of his team.

Sasuke pulled out a shuriken, while his partners pulled out kunai instead.

"Tighter formation! Or else you're enemy will get behind you all and kill you!" She ordered as she sped off and appeared right behind them. "Told you."

She grabbed Sasuke and Naruto's foreheads and slamming them together, nearly knocking them out by hitting them in the back of the head. She turned to Sakura and quickly got her off her feet and to the ground.

"This is just sad, truly." She mocked them.

She herd the familiar puff of smoke go off and turned her head to see that Sasuke's place was taken by a wooden log.

_Should have seen that coming..._

She immediately put up her arm and blocked a kick aimed to her head. She grabbed his foot and slammed him to the ground.

"Naruto? Then where's..." She looked around and saw a giant fireball heading her way.

Her facial expression was calm as she jumped over the fireball and gracefully landed on the ground. She smirked and jumped a few yards back.

"Very impressive, but not good enough." She formed hand seals and barley put any chakra into it. Water raised to the skies as she completed her seals. "Water style: Stone rain jutsu!" She jumped from the branch and punched the ground, forming a small crater as the water formed into big rain drops and rained on the team. Sakura screamed in pain as she tried to avoid the jutsu.

_Maybe I still put too much chakra into that..._

She shook the thought out of her mind and went for Sasuke again, seeing as he's the only one who came close to landing a blow on her. She sensed more chakra around her from behind, she turned around to see five Naruto's coming at her.

_The shadow clone jutsu? I'm impressed._

She averted her attention to the clones and focused on the movements. His running needed a bit more work when it came to form, but other than that, good speed and concentration on the target. She readied herself and took out a Kunai Claw; swinging it around several times before throwing it to one of the clones, wrapping the chain around his waist and swinging him to the side. Knocking out the other shadow clones including the one in her chain grip.

_Where's Naruto?..._

Three shuriken sunk deep into the side of her arm out of nowhere it seemed like. She stumbled back and held her arm and looked at the thrower.

"Good job Sakura, but not good enough!" Asuka taunted the female Genin with a smirk.

She pulled out the shuriken, knowing it would only handicap her only slightly. Naruto came at her and grabbed her injured arm and twisted it behind her back. Pain thundered through her arm, she gritted her teeth and bared the pain as she stomped on Naruto's feet and used her other arm to grab Naruto's hair.

"Hurry up!" Naruto shouted to his teammates in frustration.

Sasuke came from above and kicked her head downwards. Her body combusted into water and they heard laughter from the trees.

"Damn, I thought we had her..." Sasuka cursed.

"You haven't even seen my true strength yet." Asuka teased.

"Come out and fight like a ninja then!" Naruto yelled out.

"As you wish." She complied and sped off to them.

She kicked Naruto in the back, sending him flying towards Sakura. The pink haired Genin dodged her teammate's flying body with ease and glared at her teasing opponent. Asuka sped off again and made Sakura fall to the ground again. She then went for Sasuke, knocking him off his feet and surprisingly caught him.

She stared deep into his eyes and smiled, "I've heard your first kiss was stolen from Naruto, that's too cute." She winked and inched closer to his face, wrapping her arms around his waist with his arms tucked inside. "Can you take my first kiss then?"

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SASUKE!" Sakura scolded as she ran at Asuka, fists clenched, aiming at her face.

Asuka laughed under her breath, "As you wish."

She waited for Sakura to get only feet away from her and disappeared, letting Sasuke take the punch to the face.

"Gah! Sasuke! I'm so sorry!" Sakura apologized as she tried helping Sasuke up.

He shoved off his teammate's caring hands and got up on his own. He looked at the pink haired ninja with a menacing glare. "You're such an idiot."

Sakura's face grew pale, her eyes were completely white as she looked down with sorrow.

"Sasuke! If your partner messes up, encourage them, don't insult them!" Asuka told him as she stood on a branch. "If you insult them during battle, you are sure to fail! Allow me to demonstrate teamwork." She whistled and Hatsuharu quickly came.

She hopped off her branch and landed right next to her companion. "For those who don't know, this is my partner, Hatsuharu. He is considered a ninja tool, so in the future Chunin exams I'm able to use him."

"How will you demonstrate teamwork with a mutt?!" Naruto asked annoyingly.

"Simple, I can use water element jutsu, while Hatsuharu can use earth and fire. The only problem is that he can't use more complex jutsu like the Phoenix flower jutsu. That's when I form the hand seals necessary for that jutsu, then transfer it to him." She explained.

"How come you can't just use the jutsu yourself?" Sakura asked.

"Because I can't use fire element too well..." she said nervously while scratching the back of her head and laughing insecurely. "Now, with Hatsuharu by my side, I want all of you to have the intent to kill, or else you won't succeed in defeating me today! Understood?"

She didn't wait for them to reply; she did some hand seals and placed her chakra filled hand on Hatsuharu. He jumped up into the air, his mouth filled with flames, just eager to get out. He opened his mouth and released the jutsu, little fireballs spread around and nearly landed on the rookies. They all dodged the attack, walking out of it with a few singe marks.

Naruto made more shadow clones and went after her. Sasuke appeared from behind her and aimed a kunai to her head. She turned around in time to knock the kunai out of his hand and slam him into the ground, then dodged Naruto's shadow clones. Sasuke then grabbed her ankle and knocked her off her feet, making her fall to the ground. Naruto then dog piled her; she used a substitution jutsu and hid in a tree. She saw Sakura, and she saw her.

She sped off to her and appeared right behind her, holding a kunai to her neck.

"You lose, sorry." She vanished again and let Sakura walk off the field and sit next to Kakashi. "One down, two more to go." She looked at her remaining opponents, seeing them as no challenge. "I'm still trying to teach you, but it's hard if you prove to be not a challenge to me."

"Shut your trap Asuka!" Naruto scolded as he advanced to her, but Sasuke put a hand on his shoulder.

"No, we have to come up with a plan." He glared at her, "Are you a Chunin?" He asked her.

"Nope, I'm a Genin, just like you guys. But you know, I'm more experienced than you." She teased. "What's wrong Uchiha? Having trouble defeating me?"

He gave her a menacing stare, and then whispered something to Naruto.

"Making scary faces at me won't do you any good." She winked and stuck her tongue out.

Naruto made more shadow clones and came at her again.

"Again with this Naruto?" She rolled her eyes and formed hand seals. "Water style: Water fang fist!" water formed around her hand, it looked a lot like a wolf head ready to attack.

She charged at Naruto's clones and quickly took out the clones. She observed the battle field, not able to find neither Naruto nor Sasuke.

"You know I'll find you, right?" Hatsuharu ran to her side and sniffed the air. He barked to the trees toward the south. "Over there huh?" She formed more hand seals and placed her hand on Hatsuharu. A giant fireball formed and went to the trees.

To her prediction, they jumped out and vanished again. Then came from her front and behind her, kunai flew to her, she dodged them, but one got her in the calf. Hatsuharu jumped onto Naruto and put his canine teeth on his neck.

"Naruto, you lose." Asuka stated as she pulled out the kunai and stopped the bleeding only in seconds. "Uchiha, it's only you and me now." She gave him a devilish smile and sped off to him.

She tried landing a few blows on him, but he was faster than he appeared to be. He did a successful low sweep and knocked her to the ground, he pinned her to the ground and held the kunai to her neck.

"You lose." He stated with a smirk.

"Not quite." She winked, another Asuka appeared behind him and held a kunai to his neck. The Asuka under him dissolved to water.

"You lose, Uchiha." She smirked and helped him up.

"Looks like it's my turn." Kakashi told her as he put his book away.

Her happiness immediately turned into a ghostly face as the color flushed from her face. "Uh oh..." She took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand."

"Good, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, pay close attention to this." He walked into the field and just stood there. "She didn't really get a good chance to show you teamwork at its prime, so I'll be her opponent."

"I'm going to die..." she whispered to Hatsuharu.

"What was that Asuka?" He asked, knowing what she said.

"Nothing Kakashi sensei!" she straightened up and got into her fighting position. "Ready... do you have the intent to kill like last time?" she asked timidly.

"No, not this time." he answered plainly as he observed her and Hatsuharu.

She sighed with relief and relaxed her body, ready to move just in case he made the first move.

"That doesn't mean I'll go easy on you." He remarked, making her tense up again.

Before she knew it, he threw a kunai at her, as expected; she dodged it and sped off doing hand signs for her partner. Kakashi knew of this and made sure to keep them separate by using a shadow clone. He went after Asuka and kept to the close combat.

She was no doubt nearly as fast as him, maybe even faster if she'd take off the weighted jacket. Hatsuharu got rid of the shadow clone and sped towards Asuka, and knocking Kakashi back. She quickly placed her chakra filled hand on her partner. Several flames bursted out of his mouth, nearly landing on Kakashi. But he easily dodged it as she formed more hand signs. A water dragon came at him, she managed to hit him and keep at it with the water hitting his body. Hatsuharu got in the middle of it and bit down on Kakashi's torso.

He quickly got out of the canine's grip by using a substitution jutsu.

Asuka looked around frantically for him, she darted her eyes to the ground and jumped back, avoiding his earth release jutsu. She turned her head just in time to see Kakashi appear behind her and kicked her hard to the ground. She used a substitution jutsu and got out of it in time.

She formed more hand seals and released the first inner gate while taking off her weighted jacket. Her fists were engulfed with flames as she sped off to Kakashi again and punching his chest.

He was sent back a ways and regained control of his balance. He looked around to try to find her again, but she was too fast now, and his normal eye couldn't keep up. He was motioning to his headband and was about to slide it off his right eye. But before he knew it, Hatsuharu knocked him onto his back and had four other wolf shadow clones pinning him down.

Asuka came from the sky and fell to Kakashi's placement.

_Will I finally win? This cant be true! THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE!_

Her eyes gleamed with happiness as she fell closer and closer to Kakashi with her flame covered fist. She finally made contact to his face with her fist, leaving a giant crater and his face singed. She was so filled with joy she jumped around and fist pumped.

"I DID IT! WE DID IT HATSUHARU! WE DID IT!" She kept jumping around and shouting till she felt a similar cold touch to her throat. Her happiness faded and her eyes were brimmed with tears.

"You lose." Kakashi stated as he held a kunai to her throat from behind.

She looked over to the crater she had left to see that there was a log instead of Kakashi's body. She sighed and hung her head in defeat.

Kakashi patted her back. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get me in a few years." He chuckled as he withdrew his kunai and put it back in his pouch.

_Years?! Guh... That's forever from now..._ She fell to the ground and just stayed there, accepting the weird stares she was getting from Kakashi's team.

"What did you learn?" Kakashi asked his students.

"That no Genin can defeat you... EXCEPT ME!" Naruto exclaimed proudly.

"You idiot!" Sakura sucker punched his head. "He's talking about teamwork!"

"If we keep fighting like this, we won't ever defeat you, not even come close. If we work together, then we could have a chance like Asuka and Hatsuharu." Sasuke said cooly as he leaned up against the tree, not making eye contact with anyone.

"That is correct." Kakashi acknowledged.

Sakura looked like she was a school girl with an inappropriate crush on their teacher, while Naruto skulked to himself.

"Is that all?" Asuka questioned as she got back up.

"Yes, thank you Asuka. I'll tell Guy that you have improved quite a bit against me." He smiled and waved her off.

She nodded and smiled back before speeding off, taking her jacket and Hatsuharu trailed behind.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Asuka and Hatsuharu were just relaxing in their apartment later that day, the sun began to hide behind the trees as the moon started to show itself and shine its beauty on Konoha. The peace and quiet from nature itself was pleasant with the soothing call of a few barn owls and soft howls of wolf packs outside the village.

**Knock. Knock. Knock.**

The peace and quiet was rudely interrupted, but Asuka dragged herself off her couch and answered the door.

"Kakashi sensei? What is it?" She yawned and scratched the back of her head.

"I wanted you to have this, maybe you'll have a better chance of beating me if you used it, considering you didn't have a chance to use the Kunai Claw." He handed her a long, thin, and light box to her. "I'll be sure to help you train with it in the future, but Guy will have to help you with it mostly. Good night Asuka." He waved goodbye and poofed away.

She looked over to Hatsuharu and let him sniff it to make sure it wasn't another trick from Naruto. He shrugged and nudged the box open.

Asuka's eyes widened with interest and glee and she held the light, slender object. A devilish smile crept on her lips, as she twirled it in her fingers.

"Thank you for the rapier sword Kakashi."

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**Oh? A new toy for little Asuka? I've actually been thinking about replacing the Kunai Claws because I didn't really like it later on, so I gave her more pointy/dangerous object instead. **

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	19. Blood

**Ok… there is only one reason why this chapter is named "blood" and… well it's a twist when you find out ok? I love the twist ending to this chapter. **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 18

Blood

It's been a few months since Asuka sparred with Kakashi. All her team has done is C and D rank missions. The C rank missions seemed like they were getting easier and easier after each mission given. She felt her body getting stronger... maybe even taller... no, not taller. She hasn't grown in a while.

Hatsuharu grew stronger too and didn't have to carry as many medical supplies as he had to in the past. Asuka is less accident prone, improving her endurance and reflexes. She hasn't gotten seriously injured in about a month and a half... a new record. Hatsuharu was proud of his companion and showed it by not being as stubborn when it came to his baths.

Kakashi has even taught her the basics of her rapier, as it turns out, it will help her tremendously. The sword could channel five element chakras and enhance it well. The five elements are fire, water, earth, lightning, and wind. Whenever she tried using her wind chakra, the sword would expand its blade and turn into a fan that covered more than half of her body.

The rapier suited her well; it was black with silver and purple leaf patterns on it. The worst elements for her to use now was only fire and lightning. She'd either shock or burn herself, or hurt some defenseless animal. Guy has helped her with mastering the basics and teaching her a few things about the sword. She hasn't shown her new weapon to her teammates, wanting it to be a surprise when the time comes. For now though, she put it in a small summoning scroll.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

"Here you go."

"What are these?" Neji queered as his team accepted the papers.

"Fill these out if you want to attend to Chūnin exams... I think you're finally ready." Guy gave them all the 'good guy' pose.

Lee's eyes were filled with glee and brimmed with tears. Neji just accepted it as any other normal thing. And Asuka... she was frozen.

"Asuka?" Lee nudged her with his elbow. "What's wrong?"

"..."

Hatsuharu nipped at her hand and whimpered.

"..."

"Should we worry Guy sensei?" Lee asked.

"No... We should probably take a few steps back though." Guy answered as he took a few steps back.

"Why?" Neji furrowed his eyebrows.

"..."

"Just uh... do it." Guy said as he continued to take a few steps back.

A spark ignited her then..." REALLY?! WE GET TO PARTICIPATE THIS YEAR?!" She jumped up and down like a giddy school girl and hugged Hatsuharu around his neck while continuing to jump around. "YAHOOOO! I AM SERIOUSLY LOVING THIS! I FINALLY MIGHT BECOME A CHŪNIN! YAH!" she kept jumping around with Hatsuharu in her arms and grabbed a hold of Lee.

"ASUKA!" Lee screamed, "I can't... breathe..." His eyes went hollow as he grabbed a hold of her arms to gain at least a little leverage as she continued to jump around.

"This is ridiculous..." Neji commented as he hid in a tree far away from his crazy teammate.

Guy knew how to calm her down when it came to situations like this. He swiftly knocked Hatsuharu and Lee out of her arms and made her fall to the ground. He pinned her there for a few seconds then let her back up.

Asuka was a bit wobbly, "Wh... what happened?..." She held her head and used the support of the tree. "I was just... happy." She smiled weakly and fell to the ground. Not soon after that, she fell asleep in the shade.

"Thank you... Guy sensei." Lee thanked as he got up and breathed fresh air into his lungs.

Guy nodded and looked over to Asuka. "She'll be out for a few minutes, after that, you three as a team go sign up." He said before walking off. "Good luck!" he vanished into the trees as he waved them off.

"How do we wake her up?" Neji queered as he looked down at his sleeping teammate.

"Last time I used a cold water bottle, but since she's only asleep..." he looked over to the giant wolf.

Hatsuharu sighed and went over to his companion. He looked her over and only bit her hand hard enough to only merely give her a blood bruise.

Her eyes shot open and yanked her hand away. Her eyes were full of shock as she took in her surroundings. She sighed and scratched her head.

"I fell asleep again, didn't I?" she looked over at her two teammates.

They both nodded and Neji jumped down from his hiding place.

"Come on, we need to go." Neji said as he started to lead the way. "Is everyone prepped and ready?" He looked over his shoulder to see Lee and Asuka behind him.

"Always." She said as she winked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Lee nodded and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Good, let's go." They started jumping on the rooftops to their destination.

A minute or two past as they kept a slow pace hopping on the roof tops. Asuka let her eyes wonder to the ground and saw something that interested her immensely.

"Hey Neji, I need to go do something first, I'll meet you guys there." She told her group leader.

"Alright, don't take long." Neji nodded and kept going as she jumped down.

"Hey! Long time no see kid!" She raised her voice.

"Asuka?! What are you doing here?"

"I missed you too Konohamaru." She knelt down and hugged the little six year old.

"Get off!" He squirmed under her grip. "I still don't like hugs."

She giggled and let go of him. "Don't you miss me?" She teased as she pinched his cheek.

"No!" He said as he slapped away her hand.

"What the hell Asuka? You actually know this kid?" Naruto asked.

"Yah, I do. When I used to live in the Hokage tower I'd sometimes babysit little Kona here." She patted Konohamaru's head.

"Don't call me that!" He shouted as he yanked her hand off of him.

"I think it's time for another hair cut little Kona." She said while pulling out a kunai.

"NO!" His eyes turned hollow as his face was clearly mortified. He quickly turned on his heels and ran away.

"Why did you do that?" Naruto scratched the side of his head.

"Hm? Oh, I just like messing with him, it's cute." She smiled at him playfully.

"Hey! Let go!"

Asuka's eyes shot wide and looked over her shoulder towards Konohamaru's voice. She sped off to see a young teen in all black with purple war paint on his face.

"I hate kids." He said angrily as he held Konohamaru by the collar of his shirt to eye level.

"HEY! Let him go or you'll have to deal with me!" Asuka brought a storm of rage with her as she set her cold eyes upon him.

"Excuse me?!" He gave her the same cold stare she was giving him. Even though Asuka has grown about two inches over a year, she was still a good six inches shorter than him.

"Let. Him. Go." She crossed her arms, digging her fingernails into her arms as blood pumped faster and faster through her.

"Or what?" He smirked and tightened his grip on Konohamaru.

"No Hatsuharu, he's mine, come out." She demanded as she stomped the ground.

He gave her a stupid look, and then his face turned to shock as the giant wolf came out of the ground and glared at him with his stone blue eyes.

She grinned and lowered her head; then swiftly grabbed his wrist and squeezed.

"Gah! Let go!" He let go of Konohamaru and he ran off. The young teen glared at her and threw a punch at her.

She vanished before the punch could make contact with her and appeared above him, and then brought her foot down on his forehead. Making his back arch and stumble back holding his head.

"You should know better than to let your guard down, you're lucky I didn't use even half of my strength, your head would be in the earth's crust by now." She stared at him with daggers in her eyes and a cocky smirk.

"Kankuro! Are you ok?" A girl with light blond hair tied in four pony-tails spoke up, not sounding too concerned.

Kankuro straightened up and held his head, blood seeped through his fingers as his eyes filled with rage. "Why you little bitch!" He growled through his teeth as he reached for the bandaged item on his back.

"Stop." Kankuro turned around to see a guy, probably around her age with a giant gourd on his back upside-down on a tree branch. His eyes were cold with sea foam green, his hair blood red; short and unkempt.

"Gaara?... I-" Kankuro stuttered.

"Shut up." Was all he said, and Kankuro did as he was told.

"I take it you're here for the Chūnin exams, correct?" Asuka asked Gaara.

"Yes, we are here for the Chūnin exams." The blond answered for him.

"That was the Hokage's grandson, be carful whom you're messing with." She glared at Kankuro, and then gave him a soft smile. "Now hold still." She quickly got face to face with him.

"Wha-what are you do-..." He tried backing up, but then froze as she wiped the blood from his face and put some ointment on his wound.

"Your welcome." She backed off and smiled at him.

"Your weird!" Naruto shouted from behind.

She laughed and started to walk away.

"I wish to know your name."

Asuka turned around to a familiar cold voice. "If one wishes to receive, they must first give."

"...Gaara of the Sand." He stood in front of his team and had his arms crossed, practically staring through her soul and freezing it.

"Asuka, it was a pleasure to meet you, but I must be off." She nodded to him and his team before going back to her team. Shivers spread throughout her, starting with her spine, going to all the way to her head and toes.

_I hope I never face him during the Chūnin exams. There's something off with him... his eyes... I'll see him in my nightmares tonight._

She rubbed her arms as the goose bumps formed under her sleeved covered armor.

A few moments passed as she did her jumping and silent thinking to the correct building for sign-ups. She entered and went to the room she read on the paper to go to. But stopped and entered a hallway to see the rest of her team there, and Lee was on the ground.

"Lee! What happened?" She asked frantically while helping him up.

"Those guys won't let us in." He answered as he wiped the blood off his lip.

"I told you a frontal assault wouldn't work." Neji stated.

"This doesn't feel... right." Asuka commented as Hatsuharu looked around and sniffed the air.

"What do you mean?" Neji asked.

"This is the second floor..."

"You think kids like you could pass?" One of the guys guarding the door who had long spiky hair spoke. "Those who pass the Chūnin exams become captains, and we've failed it three times."

"If you can't pass us," The other guy guarding the door wearing his headband over his forehead and covering his hair spoke. "Then there is no way you can pass."

Naruto's team came in; Sasuke had that cocky smile of his planted on his face.

"You will let us pass though," Sasuke told them, "because I'm going to the third floor."

"I knew it, this is genjutsu, and the room should be on the third floor." Asuka stated. "I'm going, coming you guys?"

"Hi," Lee walked to the pink haired girl. "My name is Rock Lee, and yours is Sakura Haruno, right?"

She gave him a questioning look but nodded anyway.

"Let's go out, I'll protect you till I die." He gave her the good guy pose along with that.

"Uh..." Sakura didn't really know what to say, except 'no'.

But Asuka quickly came up to Lee and wrapped an arm around his neck and slightly choking him.

"I'm terribly sorry for this." Asuka smiled at her while struggling to keep Lee down. "You don't say stuff like that Lee, you just don't, ok?"

"C-cant... breathe." He clawed at her arms at first, but she had an iron grip at times, and this was one of them.

"We will be leaving now, good luck in the Chūnin exams." She walked away with Lee flailing his arms and his face turning red. She finally let go of him after they were a few yards away from the fake room.

"Why did you do that?" Lee complained as they kept walking. "She might have said yes!"

"Believe me Lee, she wouldn't have, she's in love with Sasuke Uchiha." She kept the lead with her head down and arms crossed.

"Hmm..." Lee stayed back and stopped, looking at Sakura pulling her teammates along.

"What are you thinking now?" Asuka asked.

"There is something I must test, I will be back." He left her with Neji both in question.

"I don't like this..." Asuka commented. "Something bad is going to happen."

"Jealous?" Neji smirked evilly at her.

"What? No, of course not." She averted her eyes and rubbed her arm.

"Your lying."

"Well... I'm more hurt than jealous..." She sighed and leaned up against the wall.

Neji stood in front of her and tried making eye contact. "Why? It's not like you two are dating."

"I know... Its just..." She had trouble completing any of her sentences due to nervousness.

"You two nearly kissed, right?"

Her eyes shot wide and her mouth was slightly gapped. "How did you..."

"Remember the end of your date with Lee on your birthday?" She nodded, letting him continue, "I saw the end of it, when you and Lee were on your front doorstep, and you two would have kissed if it wasn't for Hatsuharu."

"You... saw that?" He nodded.

"And I think having any romantic relationships might hurt our missions in the future." He stated to her.

"Why?"

"Love is a weakness that can be used against us, for the good of the team, don't be his girlfriend."

"I'm too young anyway; I wasn't thinking that at all... I just have feelings for him... and I will NOT let that get in the way of any of our missions, I promise." She straightened up and was now only inches away from her team leader, making an electrical eye contact with him.

"You had better keep that promise." He told her.

She nodded and backed away then looked down the hallway. "I'm going to go check on Lee, make sure he's not doing anything stupid again."

Neji nodded and let her go with Hatsuharu by her side.

_Lee... you better not be doing something stupid by the time I find you._ She sighed and scratched the back of her head while looking at her companion.

He didn't seem to notice her stare on him after a few steps, so she averted her eyes and focused on what's in front of her. She slowed her pace a bit to let Hatsuharu take a slight lead to follow Lee's sent.

After a few moments, they had started hearing sound of fighting and ran to it.

It was Lee, and he was fighting Sasuke. Asuka wasn't too worried about it, but then she saw a similar pattern to Lee, one she has seen during training. She saw this and swiftly landed a kick on Lee while he was in the air. He was knocked to the ground and a small crater was left.

"Asuka! Why did you do that?!" Lee shouted as he rubbed his head.

"You idiot! Can you imagine was Guy sensei would say if he saw you doing that move!?" She whacked him over the head and started dragging him by the back of his jumpsuit.

"B-but..." He sighed and let her drag him. "Your right." He pouted and his face filled with embarrassment.

"Yes I am, sorry for disturbing you Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura." She left them and proceeded to drag Lee until they got to Neji.

"Must have been bad if you had to drag him." Neji commented while he was leaned against the wall. "What happened?"

"Lee was using a hidden move on that Uchiha kid." Asuka answered as she let go of him and helped him up.

"Is this true?" Neji narrowed his eyes on him.

Lee looked away and let his eyes cover with shadows. "Yes, it's true."

"Lee, you are reckless, you need to learn to control yourself!" Neji slightly raised his voice at him with an angry tone.

He just sighed in response and kicked at the ground.

Asuka patted his pack warmly, "Lee..."

He slightly tilted his head up to look at her with a spec of hope in his eyes.

"... Neji is right, you need to think before you act." She took her hand away and turned her back to him. "If you act up like this during the Chūnin exams, we are sure to fail." she lowered her head and let her bangs cover her eyes, refusing to look at her green spandex covered partner.

"Asuka..." Lee tried talking, but just couldn't form the words needed for this sentence. "What's wrong? You're not like this." Lee raised his head completely and put a hand on her shoulder; she merely shrugged it off and walked forward.

"Don't we need to go to the third floor?" She kept walking, not waiting up for them. "Let's get going."

Lee looked at Hatsuharu; he shrugged his shoulders too and followed after her with Neji beside him. Lee frowned and just thought to himself as he followed his teammates.

Neji quickly caught up to her and kept his voice hushed. "What's wrong? Your not acting like yourself, usually you at least try to cheer him up. You just made him feel worse."

She kept her voice low as well. "I don't know Neji... I just..."

"Are you mad at him? For him asking that pink haired girl-"

"No, it's not that." she interrupted him quickly.

"Are you sure?" Neji dogged her.

"Yes! Now let me think..." She kept her head low and crossed her arms. She looked over to her companion and he nudged her, wanting her to pet him. But she just ignored him and felt something... off.

"I need to go to the bathroom, I'll catch up." She fast walked to the nearest bathroom without waiting for a reply from Neji or Lee. Hatsuharu sat down and waited for her outside the bathroom.

She quickly got into the first stall and pulled her underpants down then sat. She sighed as a wave of warmth swept her while hearing the liquid exit her body. She wiped and looked at the tissue paper. She then dropped it in the toilet bowl and leaned back.

_Great... I hit puberty._

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**Ha ha! What a twist! Right? If you're a guy and you don't know what puberty is for girls… go Google it. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**See you next week!**

**March 11, 2013**

***Where's the Logic?***

**p.s. dude… I'm getting the new Naruto game tomorrow… I CAN'T WAIT! 8D**

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	20. Farewell?

**Sorry this was late, but I forgot to tell you guys something last week. I was a debate state tournament for three days and got back yesterday night. Since me and my partner only made it because of pure default… we did not win a single match, but we had fun and met some nice people.**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 19

Farewell?

Hatsuharu ended up having to go in the bathroom with Asuka, seeing as he had the 'supplies' needed for her new situation. Luckily, neither Neji nor Lee had seen Hatsuharu go into the women's bathroom. Asuka came out with Hatsuharu by her side, he was stifling his chuckles. Asuka lightly punched him and gave him a glare.

"How was I suppose to know?!" She whispered shouted at him.

He shrugged and kept a big smile on his face.

_I'm happy for you, can't you see that?_ The wolf told her through his mind as she placed a hand on his head.

She shook her head and still stared at him angrily.

_Well, I am, I'll be sure to do something special for you._ He smiled up at her. She eased up and ruffled his fur as they started to walk to Neji and Lee.

"Now, before you take your seats..."

Asuka heard somebody speak from a room not too far from her or her team. She quickly caught up and stood next to her teammates.

"What took you so long?" Neji whispered to her.

"Things came up and-" She whispered back.

"Quiet while I'm speaking!" The shinobi scolded her.

She straightened up and looked straight ahead.

"Now, before you take your seats, you will be drawing from this bowl to sit." The Shinobi bared two scars across his face and wore a long coat that nearly reached the floor.

"When you take your seats, I'll introduce myself and explain the rules before handing out the test." The bowl got to her team, they drew a piece of paper and took their seats.

Asuka drew her paper and sat down in the third row next to the edge seat. There were a total of 6 rows and they could fit up to ten people per table. Which meant there were thirty teams from all over. She looked around and saw that some of them were from the grass and waterfall village. Over her year of missions, she hadn't really ran into the grass or waterfall Shinobi.

She waited patiently and saw that Gaara was walking towards her.

_Please don't sit next to me. Please don't sit next to me. PLEASE don't sit next to me..._ She pleaded in her mind as she kept a straight face and not looking at him.

Gaara took his seat next to her and barely glanced at her.

_I'm going to die..._

She took a silent breath and looked over to Gaara. "Hey." She waved to him and waited for a response.

He merely looked at her with his cold eyes, then looked straight ahead.

"So... Have any idea what the Chūnin exams consist of?"

He looked back over to her and spoke with his cold voice. "What do you mean?"

_Well... at least he's talking._

"Um... like what we have to do... the challenges."

"I don't know, hopefully I get to spill some blood." a creepy smile formed on his face at just the sight of blood.

_Great... I'm sitting next to a psychopath killer. Just don't... piss him off._

As she waited for the rest of the people to take their seats, she took out her sketchbook and some of her sketch pencils and turned to a blank page. She laid her head on the desk and barely stared at the page as she drew the base for a male head and body.

She caught Gaara staring at the paper she was drawing on and ignored his stares, as she has gathered stares like this before, she was used to it. Hatsuharu lay next to her, away from Gaara and next to a mist nin, who didn't seem to mind him there. She continued drawing as the Shinobi who seemed to be hosting the test began to speak.

"As I said, I will introduce myself. My name is Ibiki Morino, and I will be watching over you with the help of some Chūnin." He gestured to the Chūnin sitting in the stray chairs next to the wall. He looked out the door and his face slightly changed expression to anger, he faced us and back to the door. "Something urgent has popped up, I must leave for a few minutes, don't do anything hasty while I'm gone!" He ran out the room and left sixty Genin in the care of a few Chūnin.

She kept drawing and nearly finished the draft part of it, and was ready to darken and erase the stray marks. She shivered as the memory of the nightmares haunted her while she drew the guy in her mind. His white hair and pale, undead looking face. His dark eyes... the only thing she could remember well was the face, she could barley remember the clothes he wore, except that they were torn up really badly.

"Who is that?" Gaara finally spoke up after a few minutes of dead silence from him.

"Hm? Oh, I've seen this... thing in my dreams lately; it kills me every time I see him." She looked grimmer now, but she quickly wiped it away and made her face turn back to normal.

"He... kills you... and you're drawing him." He looked a bit puzzled.

"Well, I work in weird ways. To get something out of my mind, I must draw it. I don't know how it works, but it does for me." She did the final touches on the drawing and closed it. But something stopped the book from closing all the way. She lifted her head and saw three fingers in her book.

"Can I look?" Gaara's eyes didn't look as cold, more like... a child's curiosity.

"Hey, can I speak to you for a sec?"

A familiar hand was placed on her shoulder, she turned her head slightly and only needed to see the coat to see who it was.

"Oh, hey Kiba, sure." She shrugged and got up as Kiba held her arm and led her away from everyone else... as far as a yard or two goes in a decent sized room.

"What is it?" She queered as she covered her mouth and yawned.

"It's about Hatsuharu." Akamaru popped his head out of Kiba's jacket and whimpered.

She quickly wiped the tiredness away and turned serious. "What of him?" Narrowing her eyes at Kiba.

"You have to let Hatsuharu stay home and not compete in the Chūnin exams with you."

Her mouth was gaped, eyes wide in disbelief. "What?... why?"

"He's getting old, and I'd hate to say this, but," He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her with soft eyes. "He's eight years old, and the dog food we fed him when he was a pup made him grow like that. Normally wolves that live in captivity can live way longer than eight years, but the dog food we gave him also shortens his lifespan. He wouldn't live longer than ten years, he's lucky to have lived this long."

Tears filled the brims of her eyes, rage, fury, frustration, sadness... these were the feelings she was experiencing right now. She then started laughing.

"What's funny? This is serious!"

"Th-this is a jo-joke right?" Tears streamed down her cheeks and fell to the floor. "Just like before, you... you'd pull pranks on me." She struggled to even choke out the words. "Your lying." She tried pulling off a smile, but it wasn't able to form right.

"Asuka..." Kiba pulled her into a gentle hug, luckily nobody was looking, there was a big commotion going on in the other side of the room. "Don't cry, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"Why are you lying to me?" She started gently punching his arms and chest. "Your such a terrible liar." She choked and sniffled as the tears started to be absorbed into Kiba's jacket.

"Asuka, you can see it can't you? He's resting more, not moving as much as he used to..." He kept stating things that were obvious to others, but blind to her.

"Shut up." her body was quivering as she gently hugged him back.

"You know it's true, I'm sorry Asuka, I truly am sorry."

"Shut up, just shut up... I know, ok?" She buried her face into his jacket and clenched it. "I'm still going to keep him during the Chūnin exams."

He pulled her out of the hug and held her at arms reach. "What?! B-but, he might-"

"I know! I don't want him to die lying around; I want him to die fighting, like he was trained to do." She kept her head low and held her chest. "I love him with all my heart, but I don't want to see him just whither away and die eventually."

"You're being selfish!" He scolded her as he shook her shoulders.

Her head jerked up and looked at Kiba. "What?"

"Think about how Hatsuharu is, his condition is of an old dog right now! He's only following you around because he's loyal! You're smart, I know you are! Think about how he feels, right now! He's suffering physical pain beyond imagining!"

"What the hell am I suppose to do!?" She lowered her head again and let more tears fall. "Just... tell him to go home, during one of my most important tests of my life? It's not that simple..." Kiba wiped away her tears and got her to look back up at him.

"I know it's not that simple, my mother tells me of the other dogs she's bonded with and how they died." He swept her eye-length bangs out her eyes, "I'm sorry, but for the good of Hatsuharu, tell him to go home."

She looked away for a moment remembering all the times they had together. The time when she got suck in a tree and he had to help her out.

The first time she attempted to climb her first tree and fell right on her ass, and Hatsuharu caught her.

The times they shared training under Guy and Kakashi sensei.

Helping each other with getting in and out of an ice bath after training.

When he helped her whenever she was injured so badly she couldn't even walk.

The tears he licked off her face whenever she tried remembering her past and all that came up was a giant blank.

The jutsus they helped each other learn.

The experience they shared.

Everything they had experienced together...

In her opinion, all of that would be thrown away. Every single bit of it, for nothing. All for nothing.

But, he would be able to live longer if he didn't fight anymore.

It wouldn't be the same to her.

But... she had to, for his sake.

She nodded. "I'll tell him." struggling to even choke out the words she immediately regretted, Kiba hugged her once more.

"I'm sorry, I can't say this enough, but you'll look back one day and think, 'At least he lived a little bit longer', ok?"

She nodded and walked past him and to her seat. She laid her head on the table and looked down at the worried wolf. She sighed and placed a hand on him.

"You have to go back home, please don't argue," Tears were being held back this time, she refused to blink and keep talking. "Just go, I know you're in pain, I've seen it. I know your getting old, please, just go home." She continued to pet him and stare deeply into his stone blue eyes.

He did as she said and didn't argue. He just lowered his head as he stood up slowly and walked out of the room.

Now the tears flowed out and onto the table as she buried her face into her arms; then let the world fade into darkness as her eyelids closed her mind from the rest of the world.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

A few more minutes have past as Gaara looked through the book and finally finished. He looked over to Asuka to hand it back, but saw that she had fallen asleep. He didn't know what to do to wake her up, even if he should or not. He didn't know what to do except look through her drawings again. There was one drawing that caught his eyes.

He flipped the pages and found the drawing again. The drawing that consisted of her and a guy with a bowl haircut and wearing a spandex suit with his headband around his waist. His arms were around her waist and his head rested on her shoulder. She was blushing and held his hands. Then there was writing in the top right hand corner reading, "Forget this life, This love is not meant to strive, Let it go."

_She said she draws to get stuff out of her mind, so this must be a distraction to her._ He looked over his shoulder to find the kid in her book. His head was down and he was twiddling with his thumbs, there was obviously something on his mind he couldn't get out either.

Gaara turned back around and stared at the picture, then back to Asuka.

_How can I wake her up without touching her?..._ He looked down and gathered some of his sand into the palm of his hand. Looking back over to Asuka, he made his sand float over to her and land on her arm then gave her a slight pinch.

She merely shrugged it off and repositioned her arms.

Gaara scratched his head slightly and let his mind wonder into his more 'darker' thoughts to wake her up. He used his sand again and covered her nose and mouth.

After a few moments, her eyes opened and were blood shot red as she quickly raised her head up and wiped the sand away. She held her chest and desperately took in the free air.

"What happened?!" She asked Gaara with fear tinting her face.

"I woke you up." He simply stated.

"Like that?! You couldn't have just shoved me down or something?" She face-palmed and slouched in her chair.

"It was more fun my way." That creepy smile crept on his face again as his eyes widened and his hands shaking.

"Uh..." She scratched the back of her head, thinking on how to change the subject. "You like my drawings?"

He shook his mind out of his 'thoughts' and snapped back to reality. He looked over to her, then her sketchbook. "I don't care." He looked down at his hands and fiddled with them.

_Then why did he ask to look?_ She sighed and laid her head back onto the table then started messing with her hair.

"Sorry for the wait," Ibiki came back in and shut the door behind him, "Now, I will explain the rules, I will NOT repeat them, so listen up!"

_Well, with every test comes with a set of rules... then again, why do rules exist? People will break them anyway. I mean, look, the guy next to me will probably break the rules if he doesn't know any of the questions._ She continued to play with her hair.

"And now, I will hand out the test." Ibiki declared while getting the tests. "Tests are out, NO TALKING."

_OH NO!_ Asuka put her hands through her hair and her irises grew smaller. _I'm going to fail... don't worry, just don't cheat and don't ask questions. Waist as much time as possible to seem like your smart._ She exhaled a long held breath and straightened up as a test came her way.

_Let's see... first question... name? Well ok then..._

She wrote her name down and continued.

_If your team was trapped in a corner with no where else to go, and there was a trapdoor blocking their only exit and your chakra level was low, what would you have to do?... what? Wait, hold on, who/what is blocking their way? They could have at least worded it differently... there is a horrible extension sentence..._

She scratched her temple with the eraser side of her pencil and let her eyes wonder the room. Gaara wasn't really writing anything, but he was holding one of his eyes and seemed to be focusing.

Naruto wasn't doing anything either, he seemed to be stressing out right now, can't blame him either... Neji was using his Byakugan, and Lee... well Lee wasn't writing anything either. Akamaru seemed to be barking things to Kiba... I thought there was no talking!?

She slammed her head down on the desk and groaned.

_I'm not gonna pass this... on to the next question._

She straightened up and looked at her paper again.

_... I don't know this one either... or the next... six in fact. The last question is blank? What is this? I don't get it..._

She put a hand to her mouth and yawned silently.

_If I fail, surely the rest of my team won't fail either._

She laid her head on the table and began to doodle on the paper. Her vision began to blur and the room slowly got darker and darker with every passing second. Her eyelids soon failed her and closed.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_Asuka was in the same room, with everyone she noticed still in the room with her, including Gaara sitting next to her. His eyes seemed less harsh when he looked at her, and more... soft looking. His smile was warm and very inviting, making her **want** to talk to him._

_"You seem more... happy." She stated to him._

_"Well, you are sitting right next to me." His voice was even more warm, and less cold sounding. He stared deeply into her chocolate brown eyes and leaned slightly forward to her._

_"Uh... thank you." She blushed and moved her bangs in front of her right eye and then turned away._

_"Come now, don't hide your face from me, I won't bite." He cupped her chin and made her face him again._

_"O-ok..." She blushed even more and took a quick look at Lee and Neji._

_Lee was asleep with his head buried in his arms, while Neji was giving her a harsh stare with his Byakugan._

_She looked back over to the advancing Gaara, whom was now sitting next to her._

_"What's wrong? Aren't you enjoying this?" He smirked and put an arm around her waist. "You have a nice ass." His hand slid down and squeezed her right cheek._

_"Please let this be a dream..." She pleaded quietly as Gaara used his sand to gently pick her up and set her on his lap. Her legs hanged to the sides as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Look... I am enjoying this, but I-" she gasped._

_She couldn't finish her sentence because of pure shock. Gaara wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer; laying his head in her chest and began to suck and bite on her collar bone._

_"Ga...Gaara... I... stop." Despite her efforts to get off of him, her body fell weak and couldn't even budge a single inch. Her face turned fully red as Gaara squeezed her tighter, he intently mad her feel **him**._

_"N-Neji... help." She looked over to Neji, he was asleep too, she took in her surroundings and saw that everyone was asleep now. "Gaara... please... no."_

_"You say no, but your body says yes." He grinned evilly at her and picked her up; he laid her on the table and got on top of her in arms length. He put his legs in-between hers and spread his legs, making her spread her legs as well._

_"Stop... please." She silently pleaded again, hoping he heard her this time._

_He put a finger to her lips and leaned in closer. "Shut up and go with it. It is only a dream."_

_He removed his finger and gently put his lips to hers. He propped himself with one arm and had the other arm snaked under her waist and arched her back._

_"You're so warm." He purred as he gently bit her upper lip._

_Her whole body was so weak for no reason, she couldn't explain it. Her limbs were quivering, and she felt more cold than even remotely warm. Her hands were slippery and her forehead was covered by a sheet of sweat._

_She was scared._

_"Stop..." She whimpered into his lips. He took his opportunity and slipped his soft, warm tongue into her mouth and exchanged breathes._

_He used his sand and raised her arms up above her head. She could feel him smile as his sand started to work her sandals and jacket off._

_"Stop..." Burning tears slid from the corners of her eyes. "Lee... help me... please." She pleaded softly against Gaara. "Lee... help me... please... Lee... LEE!"_

"LEE!" Her head shot up and looked around the room.

Lee was looking at her with a shocked/queered expression on his face, Neji seemed confused, and everyone else was giving her a questioning look. Her face was full of blush and her forehead was sweating.

"If you would be quiet, I would tell you the last question!" Ibiki scolded her as he crossed his arms.

She cleared her throat and lowered her head. "Sorry..."

She sighed and looked over to Gaara. He gave her a cold glare before continuing onto his test. She averted her eyes and looked down at her test.

_How am I suppose to focus now if I just dreamed of having sex with the guy sitting RIGHT next to me... then again... it's not like we actually did it even in my dreams._ She laid her head down on the table again. _Wait... this is the table that me and Gaara..._ She shivered and straightened up.

"Congratulations, you all pass." Ibiki announced happily.

"What?..." She silently commented while scratching her head.

She looked down at her paper and picked it up. Nearly all the answers were filled in, she looked around and only got another cold glare from Gaara.

_Did he... no, he wouldn't have. But then who?_ She took another look and didn't get any stares from anyone. _Don't look a gift horse in the mouth I suppose..._

She looked around again to see that nearly half of the students were gone. _What happened?_ She tapped her chin, trying to process everything that has happened.

A giant puff of smoke appeared and a woman shouted, "I am Anko Mitarashi! Follow me!"

Asuka nearly jumped out of her chair and focused on the center of the smoke. There stood a woman in a fishnet shirt and a tan jacket with rusty yellow gray eyes and either black or an ugly dark purple spiky short hair in an unkempt ponytail.

"I was about to get to that part Anko..." Ibiki told her as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh..." She looked around and saw everyone in the room. "You made the test too easy this year, I'll cut them down at least in half." She smirked at all the students.

_What?! But... there are only fourteen teams left, isn't that ok? Why do we need to lessen our numbers? Isn't more Chūnins good? Gah! Where's the logic?_ She threaded her hands through her hair and grunted.

"C'mon! We will be going to the Forest of Death." Anko sounded... unusually happy to lead us to our 'death'.

Asuka sighed and walked out of the room with her team.

"Asuka, why did you yell out my name?" Lee asked as soon as he was next to her.

"Oh um... I had another nightmare." She rubbed her arm and looked down.

"Oh, what was it about?" Lee placed a hand on her shoulder and looked more concerned.

_Say something... not EXACTLY what Gaara did, just something!_

"That, red head kid sitting next to me torturing me."

_Yah... 'torture' he did make me cry though..._

"The one with the gourd and 'love' mark on his head?" She nodded. "Do not worry, I will not let him hurt you." He gave her a sparkling smile and friendly one arm hug around the shoulders.

_I'm still worried though..._ She looked at the back of Gaara as he walked in front of her. Kankuro was to his right and that blond girl with the four ponytails was to his left. _He wouldn't do that... would he?_

* * *

**Alright then, is this the end of Hatsuharu behind with her? Would Gaara do that?... maybe. ANYWHO… I got a picture of Asuka in a traditional drawing I made of her, jut go to my profile and go to the link, I hope you guys like what she looks like. **

**Double upload week yah!**

**Next Chapter: *Preliminary Rounds Part 1***

**Reminder: If I get thirty reviews for this story, I will upload the next chapter the next day.**

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	21. Karma

**Yah! Here you go… people have been wanting to add stuff to this… I don't know why… but it was something random… I'll tell you at the end of this chapter. **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 20

Karma

"First of all, before we start, I need you to sign a waver that basically says that if you die from here on out, I am not responsible for your death."

Asuka's jaw slightly gaped. _What?_

Anko still sounded too... happy about all of this. "Just go to that tent and sign it or else you wont be able to continue any further," She pointed to a tent to her right. "And the goal of this is to get two scrolls. There is the 'earth' and 'heaven' scroll. Each team will have one of the two kinds of scrolls. For those of you who still don't understand, you HAVE to collect both kinds of scrolls to pass."

_So, It doesn't matter what you do, the most who will past are seven teams._

"You will have five days to get the scrolls needed and meet up at the checkpoint for the third round, good luck. Oh, and by the way, the people around you, aren't your only enemy when you enter that forest." She flashed us a smile and a peace sign before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"She sounds too happy for this..." Asuka commented.

"Noted." Neji acknowledged. "Come on, let's go sign and get the scroll, any volunteers to carry it?"

"Lee can't carry it because of lack of packs and his spandex suit is a dead giveaway." Asuka stated.

Lee nodded sadly, knowing that it's true. "Asuka could carry it, she has plenty of packs."

"True, but that would also be also a dead giveaway." Neji replied. "Because there are people who can pickpocket things in a blink of an eye, plus it is the first thing that they would check."

"So it needs to be in the clothing." Asuka commented.

"Exactly, now... since Asuka has the most clothing..." Neji stared at her.

"... If you're thinking what I think you're thinking then it's a no, my cup size as at most a B, I am only twelve." She crossed her arms and glared at him.

Neji face-palmed and sighed. "No, I mean put it under your dress in your tights, can you do that?"

"Oh, yah... yah I can do that." She blushed and scratched the back of her head. "My bad..."

Neji rolled his eyes and entered the tent with his team behind him. They all signed and were handed the heaven scroll and Asuka went into the nearby bathroom. It took her a bit before she could get it into a comfortable place that didn't standout, but looked like it was part of the pack that rested on her butt. She came out and found her team.

"You ok?" Neji asked.

"Yah, it's all good." She gave him a warm smile and put her arms around her teammates' necks. "We can do this!"

"With the power youth!" Lee's eyes filled with fire and fist pumped.

"Yes!" Asuka let go of Neji and fist pumped with him.

"Quit it, we need to go into our gate." Neji stated to them as he started walking.

Asuka and Lee caught up to their leader. "So, what's the plan?" Asuka hushed her voice and asked.

"First, we need to see what were up against; it's not called the 'Forest of Death' for no reason." Asuka and Lee nodded and let him continue. "When we get in, then we will come up with a plan, got it?" They both nodded. "Good, get ready."

They both got into their running stance, not too tense and not too loose, ready for the gates to open now.

Moments past and they heard a 'click' and the gates opened. Their team hopped off and ran to the left. They got in their formation with Neji leading, Asuka to the left and Lee to the right.

Within a few minutes, they found a nice tree to settle on and think of a plan.

"This is far enough." Neji stated.

"So, any updates on the plan?" Lee asked.

"Well, I haven't gotten a good view on the creatures that she mentioned, so..." He paced on the giant branch the team was resting on.

Asuka then spotted something and her eyes filled with horror as she fell to the ground and backed away to the trunk of the tree. Lee saw this and the thing Asuka was looking at; he swiftly got to her side and covered her mouth.

"Don't scream, it's nothing ok? Nothing, absolutely nothing." Lee tried comforting her.

"What's wrong?" Neji queered.

"Look." Lee pointed to the horrible, ugly, dark thing that crawled to them.

"A spider, a tiny tarantula? You have got to be kidding me." He pinched the bridge of his nose and easily killed the spider with his sandals. "See? It's nothing, now about the plan..." He put a hand to his chin and closed his eyes.

**_Crash!_**

A giant pair of hairy fangs went to Neji, Asuka saw this and tackled Neji out of the tree and to the ground. Lee jumped out of the tree in time before the tree broke and crashed to the ground.

Asuka's eyes filled with horror again as she choked out a scream and backed away.

It was a giant, hairy, brown tarantula. It's eight eyes were coal black and shiny as day. It looked over to Neji and threw a hairy leg toward him.

Neji dodged it, the leg left a giant crater. The debris nearly hit the frozen Asuka. Something grabbed the back of her jacket and carried her away from the debris.

She quickly swatted away the 'helper' and saw whom it was.

"Hatsuharu!" She hugged him tightly and quickly let him go. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have told you to go home."

He bit her arm and jumped, dodging a hairy leg.

"I'm so sorry, stay with me during the rest of this, please." She looked into his eyes and pleaded silently.

He nodded and licked her face.

_I'd never leave your side, even if I'm on the verge of dying, I want to be with you until I die._

She let the warm-happy tears slide down her cheeks.

"Asuka! We need your help!" Lee yelled to her as he dodged a leg.

Her mind snapped back to reality, and the giant spider attacking them.

_What do I do?_

"Asuka! Snap out of it! We need you now!"

_I'm so scared, what do I do?_

Hatsuharu bit her hand and tried getting her to stand back up.

_I need to do... something, but what do I do?_

She took a couple of deep breaths and stood up with weak knees and shaky hands.

_I need to end this, time for my secret weapon._

"Neji! Lee! Hatsuharu! Distract the spider, I got a surprise for you guys." She shouted to them as she pulled out her tiny summoning scroll.

"You really think that a 'surprise' is good right now?!" Neji shouted back to her.

"Trust me!" She opened the scroll and sliced her thumb with a kunai; then placed her blood stained hand on the scroll. A puff of smoke covered her whole right arm as she drew it back to reveal her elemental rapier sword.

"Let's do this." She smiled and channeled chakra into it. "Get back!" She struck the sword into the ground as her teammates jumped away and avoided her attack.

The earth rumbled beneath the spider, then the earth erupted with giant stone spikes and pierced the spider all over like a porcupine. She channeled more chakra into her sword and pulled it out of the ground and leaving the spikes into the spider.

The spider was still moving and trying to get out. Asuka wouldn't allow it to live any longer and ran to the spider with her chakra filled sword. She jumped and struck the sword into the spider. Electricity surged through the spider, all of its eyes popped and spewed blood. Its fangs parted and drooled blood. Its struggling soon stopped as most of its blood left the lifeless arachnid. She sheathed her sword in the purple holder that came with the sword and jumped off the spider.

Both Neji and Lee gave her disbelieving looks.

"Where did you... How?" Lee was speechless.

"Kakashi sensei gave it to me, probably for the Chūnin exams." She patted her sheathed sword and smiled.

"You should have told us this, we could have made a new strategy with your new weapon." Neji swiftly told her with a hint of ice.

"I know, but you know how I am." She brushed past him and winked. "I'm full of surprises."

"Quit joking around! We need the scroll." Neji glared at the back of her head, mentally burning a hole through her skull.

"I know, I know, cool it ok? We need to stay calm and collective if we want the other scroll." She looked around and hopped to a tree with the others following.

"I know." Neji told her harshly. "We need to find somebody with the scroll we need, I suggest we split up, cover more ground." He threw a kunai into the tree's thick branch. "We'll meet up in an hour, and whatever you do, don't engage an enemy, just observe."

"In my opinion, that's a terrible idea, we need to gather food and water for night time, the sun is going down." Asuka stated to him.

"How can you tell with all of this thick greenery?" Neji queered coldly.

"Look at the shadows, and it's getting colder." Neji saw that her statements were true, the shadows were stretched and the wind grew colder with every passing minute.

He sighed and massaged his temples. "Your right, fine, we'll set up camp for the night."

"Good, Hatsuharu and I will gather food." She petted her companion's head and smiled.

"I'll find wood." Lee stated.

"And I'll get water, we meet under this tree in one hour, got it?" They all nodded and went their separate ways.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

After they gathered back in an hour as promised, they all ate and soon fell asleep. Asuka took the first nightshift and agreed to wake Hatsuharu after three hours, then Lee, and last Neji. It was a cool night, the stars were out and it was a full moon. That tempted her to go above the treetops and sketch the moon. But sadly, she couldn't she had a team to look after. That's the only reason she needed to stay grounded.

She kept her hearing open and eyes sharp for anything, even something as simple as a little soft breath or a squirrel. As the breeze blew past her, she sniffed softly. Even though her sense of smell wasn't as good as Hatsuharu or even Kiba's, she was still able to smell something odd.

_A_ _hint of cinnamon? Forests don't have cinnamon..._ She quietly pulled out her sword and kept her eyes on the area surrounding her teammates; her ears desperate for even a silent footstep.

Something or _someone_ pulled the silent trigger in her mind, she jumped to her teammate's side and covered their bodies with a shield of earth just by a swish of her rapier. She then channeled wind chakra into her sword that made it expand into a fan as she swung into the direction the sound came from.

Neji busted through the earth shield, followed by Lee and Hatsuharu.

"What happened?" Neji asked.

"There's someone or something here." She replied as she looked around.

"Where? I don't see anything." Lee said as he got up.

Neji activated his Byakugan. After a few moments past, he kept his Byakugan on. "She's right."

Hatsuharu sniffed the air and growled to the left of their campsite.

Lee and Neji got into their fighting stance and slowly advanced to the greenery.

The bushes rustled and weak branches broke as whatever came there way, and out came...

A squirrel.

All of them were embarrassed by their mistaken conception, but Asuka, was mortified.

_I actually threw an attack... at a squirrel... I hate myself._

She took a better look at the squirrel and still questioned the smell of cinnamon.

"Asuka, take a better observation next time," Neji pinched the bridge of her nose. "Lee, take her shift, she's been up for way too long."

Lee nodded and took her place.

Asuka narrowed her eyes at the squirrel, then quickly sliced off its head with ease.

Lee's jaw hit the ground and his eyes were completely white and wide. Neji was wide eyed too, but not as bad as Neji.

"Why did you do that?!" Lee asked shockingly. "It was just an innocent squirrel.

"'Innocent squirrel', pft, yah right, just wait." She pointed to the decapitated squirrel. After a quick second, a puff of smoke covered the squirrel and revealed a girl with black hair reaching her shoulders with blue tips.

"A Shinobi!" Lee stated surprisingly.

"And not just any Shinobi, a Shinobi from the hidden waterfall village." Asuka commented as she searched the young girl. "If there's one, there's more somewhere."

"Agreed, lets go, we've spent enough time here." Neji ordered. "Asuka, is there a scroll on her?"

"Yah, but it's the heaven scroll, it's no use to us... but." She took the scroll and gave it to Hatsuharu. "You know what to do."

Hatsuharu nodded happily and pranced away with his tail held high.

"What is he doing?" Lee queered.

"He's going to burry it, make it harder for another team to find it." She smirked as Hatsuharu came back sooner than expected.

"Good idea, ok, lets go." Neji told them as he started to lead the way through the trees.

It seemed like hours have past, their energy was low, but they kept their strength up because they have done things like this before.

"Alright, since Asuka's plan didn't work, let's go with my plan and split up. If we run into trouble, just run back to the checkpoint." Neji threw a kunai into a tree again. "Hatsuharu will be here to warn us if anything goes wrong, got it?"

They all nodded, and this time without a peep from Asuka. They dispersed and left Hatsuharu behind.

They all came back within the hour and waited a few minutes on Lee, after about ten minutes past, they grew more and more suspicious.

"This isn't like him." Asuka commented. "He's never this late, even if he's limping he's not even a second late."

"Let's go find him." Neji told her.

She nodded and took the kunai out of the tree and handed it to Neji. He took it and nodded, and then let Hatsuharu take the lead to find Lee.

"You still have the scroll?" Neji asked.

Asuka slapped her butt and felt the hard cylinder laid horizontally right above her bottom. She nodded and smiled to him.

"Good, are we close to Lee?" Neji queered.

Hatsuharu nodded and muffled a bark. His ears and eyes perked out of nowhere, he then quickened his pace.

"What is it?" Neji asked a bit more frantic.

"He smells blood and Lee's scent." Asuka told him, she lowered her head and quickened her pace.

"Wait! Stay in formation." Neji quickly told her.

She sighed and slowed her pace to match his.

"Don't worry, Lee is fine for now." Asuka told him, "But if we don't get there soon, he might not be alive."

"We need to hurry." Neji complied.

She nodded and nearly tripled her pace, this was far faster than Neji's pace and he knew it. But he let her get ahead anyway for his teammate's sake.

She quickened her pace even more and nearly got ahead of Hatsuharu and jumped out of the trees to a small opening with seven people on the battle field. Three of them she had no idea whom they were, one Lee on the ground and unconscious, and the other three were Sakura taking care of a knocked out Naruto and Sasuke.

_Damn... I can do this._

She grinned and landed on the ground and struck her sword into the ground; sending earth shockwaves to the three unknown Shinobi.

"Who are you?!" The sound nin with what looked like a giant fur pelt on his back asked her.

"My name is Asuka, and these are my friends." She turned around to face them with a cocky grin. "If you dare try to hurt my friends," She pulled her sword out of the ground and twirled it in her hands. "I'll kill you."

"You seem so serious, lets see if you can really stay true to your word." the other sound nin with black spiky hair spoke up.

"With pleasure." She picked up Lee by his arm and tossed him into Sakura's arms. "Look after him until I get done playing with these guys."

She didn't say a word, but did as she said and tended to Lee.

Hatsuharu jumped to her side and growled at the sound nins. Asuka petted him and looked at them with sharp eyes. "Now that there are no distractions, I'll be able to kill you easily."

The female sound nin grinned and gave her a challenging look. This was the spark to Asuka.

She took her sword out of the ground and slashed at it, sending earth spikes their way. One of the spikes grazed the spiky black haired nin's arm.

"You'll pay for that." He said angrily as he pointed his palms to her. There was something strange with his palms, he had pitch black holes rimmed with silver in the center of his palms.

These were sound nin, so Asuka knew what was coming next, and what she had to do. Channeling wind chakra into her sword made it expand into a fan, she swung her fan to the boy and blew him back, along with his sound.

"Sound travels it's fastest in water, but is slowed by powerful winds." Asuka chirped, "You have no chance against me if you depend only on sound."

"But what if we got in close?" The guy with the fur pelt on his back stated; he sped off to her and tried punching her. She evaded him and channeled her fire chakra into the sword while it was still a fan and blew it to him.

Hatsuharu barked to her, she knew that Hatsuharu couldn't fight against the sound nin. He is a wolf, and his hearing is far superior than any other human, making him especially weak against the sound nin.

Asuka tilted her head towards Sakura and Lee, making Hatsuharu guard them while she fought off the sound nin. She jumped onto a sturdy tree branch and kept a good eye on the sound nin.

_C'mon Neji, I can't face them on my own with three others injured._

She took a deep breath and exhaled, ready to continue on with the fight.

"I suggest you leave now before I have to pull a move that will leave you speechless for hours." Asuka threatened them.

"Ha! What can you possibly do on your own?" The female sound nin teased.

_A lot more than you think._

Asuka focused more chakra into her sword and dragged it along the tree as she slowly stepped off the branch and scratched the trunk all the way down with her sword. Her feet finally made contact with the ground with the sword still connected to the tree. A grin curled as she looked at them with teasing eyes; pulling the sword out of the tree swiftly, she brought out all of the old tree's stored water, making the tree weak, frail, and dry. The water formed into a familiar shape of a wolf and threw the water to the sound nin.

It was almost impossible to dodge, the water made contact with the sound nin and pushed them several yards back. She withdrew her sword and held it behind her back, facing downward and started focusing more chakra with her eyes closed.

"Is that all?! Man your pathetic!" The spiky hair nin declared.

"Keep a sharp eye on her you idiot! She's plotting something." The guy with the fur pelt warned his team.

After a moment of silence, Asuka opened her eyes and had a stare down with the apposing team. "I've been working on this move for weeks now, it's only fair to test it on decent opponents such as yourselves." She revealed her sword to them, electricity sparked out of the sword, just itching to make contact with something, or _someone_. "I'll be sure not to miss." She closed her eyes again and focused more on her taijutsu and whispered, "Gate of Opening, open."

Her eyes shot back up and dashed to them, slicing her sword thru all of them in one go. Sending shockwaves throughout their bodies and their screams silent. She stood yards away from them with her sword sheathed and her face calm.

_It actually worked!? Gah! I never thought that would... I wonder though... Did I look badass?... I hope so._ On the inside she was practically screaming and crying from joy. In reality, she was calm and collected, not a single hint of emotion showing.

"Asuka," Neji came from the trees, "I saw everything with my Byakugan..." He averted his eyes for a moment and looked into her eyes again. "That was foolish of you to fight all three of them on your own, you should have woken up Lee first, then fight."

"If you really did see everything, then you should know that I took care of it, nobody else got hurt, that's all that matters, and..." She went over to the stiff bodies and started searching them. After a short moment, she pulled out a scroll. "We now have the earth scroll, just what we needed, right?" She smiled teasingly at him.

Neji took the scroll and sighed, "Fine, but don't do anything reckless again."

"Reckless?" She queered, "What are you talking about? I planned that out to the end and it happened just as I thought it would, I can do this too Neji." She glared at him with fire in her eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to wake Lee up."

Neji glared at the back of her head as she walked over to their teammate. She picked him up and vigorously shook his shoulders.

"Wake up Lee. Come on, I know you've taken a worse beating than that." She shook him a little less ruff and started lightly slapping his cheeks.

His eyes fluttered open and smiled as he noticed who was holding him. "Hey Asuka... what happened." His voice was tired, and you could tell he was groggy.

"I took care of the sound nin and we have the earth scroll now." She told him.

"Really? That's good... what of Sakura!?" Lee shot up and looked around to find the pink haired girl taking care of her teammates.

"I'm fine Lee, thank you for your help." Sakura flashed him a smile and then went back to her teammates.

Asuka grunted and pulled out a container of ointment then tossed it to Sakura. "Use that on them; they'll heal a lot faster than what you're doing."

Sakura nodded and started using the ointment on them.

"Time for us to go." Neji motioned his teammates to follow and they did as he said and went into the trees.

"I take it were going to the checkpoint now, right?" Asuka asked Neji.

He nodded, "Correct, but it'll be late by the time we even get halfway through this forest."

"So who's doing what?" Lee asked.

"Asuka, Lee, go find a good place to rest for the night. Hatsuharu, you're with me to find Asuka after we get supplies." Neji stated to them. They all nodded in agreement and went their separate ways. Lee and Asuka went to the North while Neji and Asuka headed East.

"So, how did that battle go exactly?" Lee curiously asked her.

"With me and sound nin?" He nodded and let her continue. "Well... I surprised them for sure." She gave him a toothy grin. "And I just paralyzed them for a few hours after I got them soaked to the bone in water."

"Wow Asuka! You sure have gotten stronger after only a few months." Lee smiled back at her. "You sure are a great example of youth in its bloom!" He gave her a thumbs up.

"Ha heh, no way, you're still way more youthful and hot blooded than me for sure." She patted him on the shoulder.

"Thank you Asuka! But you really have gotten stronger."

"Thanks Lee, but you and Neji are still stronger than me." She scratched the back of her head.

"You never know until we have a match." He gave her a competitive look.

"Oh no Lee, I know what you're trying to imply, and now is not a good time."

Lee sighed depressingly and quickly straightened up. "I know, it would be nice though if we could."

_Yah... it would. I don't like the idea of fighting ninja from different countries._ She shook those thoughts out of her head and focused. _These are just enemies, if I think of them anything other than ninja, I might not make it out of this in one piece._

The wind blew a gentle breeze... and a familiar scent.

_That scent again?... Where are you at now?_

"Lee, keep a sharp eye out, I smell something off again..." Her eyes narrowed and darted her irises to all of her surroundings.

"What is it?" Lee queered.

**_snap!_**

Asuka saw what was coming, but Lee had no idea. She quickly stepped in front of Lee and blocked his path. She closed her eyes and braced for the upcoming pain. A large, sharp, cold object sliced through her stomach in went a bit further than expected. She felt it graze her spinal cord and stop to Lee's body.

"ASUKA!" Lee cried out and caught her limp body.

"Lee... Look out." Asuka weakly pointed behind him.

Lee turned around in time to see a nin coming for them. He quickly jumped out of the way and set Asuka near a hollow tree trunk.

"Asuka! Hang in there!" Lee reassured her.

"It's... only a flesh wound." She lightly-weakly laughed.

"No it's not!" Lee told her.

"Lee... you're bleeding." She placed a hand on his stomach; Lee quickly took her hand off of him and held her hand.

"This, is a flesh wound, we need to get Neji and Hatsuharu here fast."

"Use... this." Asuka dug into her jacket and gave him a dog whistle. "Only dogs... should be able to hear it."

Lee nodded and blew into the whistle as hard as he could. He sighed and put the whistle in his pouch just in case anything else goes wrong.

"Lee..."

"Don't speak." Lee told her. He looked over his shoulder to find the nin a few yards behind them.

"I finally found you!" The shinobi stated, "Now I'll kill you, just like you killed my teammate!"

"I'll be back Asuka, I promise." Lee stroked her cheek and blocked the upcoming kunai with another. "You are of the waterfall village, correct?"

The boy nodded, he also had black hair and blue tips, but his hair formed more of a Mohawk, his eyes were a light violet and his skin was fairly tan. "I'll kill you!"

Lee waited for the apposing shinobi to get to him. He was slow, but looked fairly strong as well.

Lee blocked his punch and threw him over his shoulder. He then advanced to him and repeatedly kicked and punched him in vital areas. After a moment or two of kicking, the guy fell to the ground and vomited.

"I give… I give… I'm sorry." The waterfall nin pleaded to Lee.

"Leave! If I ever see you again you will be sorry!" Lee kicked him one last time in the stomach and turned his back on the soaring nin. He went back to Asuka brushed the hair out of her face. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be... fine. I've had worse." She tried reassuring him with a smile. It didn't work.

"You have a Demon Wind Shuriken sticking out of your body!" Lee stated.

"Your not helping."

He sighed. "I'm sorry... what happened?"

"You stepped on a trip wire... I thought it was only going to be... a kunai." She placed her hand on the giant Shuriken. "I was clearly wrong."

"So... what do we do about it? Take it out?" Lee queered.

"No, we'll have to cut it off and leave the remaining blade within me... If we try taking it out, I'll bleed out and die right here."

"Well... how do we cut it? We don't have anything sharp or hot enough to cut through it."

"That's not true..." She pulled out her rapier. "I'm able to make this blade hot enough to cut through the hardest of metal, but I'll need your help."

"I'm not good with my chakra..." He averted his eyes in embarrassment.

She laughed weakly, "I know, I just need your help with moving my hand and keeping me quiet."

His eyes shot wide with his thick eyebrows raised. "What?"

"First though... I need your help with cutting the dress and making a gag." She pulled out a kunai and handed it to him. "Cut it all around my waist and pull off the separated dress... then cut it up more and make a gag."

Lee accepted the kunai hesitantly and looked over her. Her bleeding seemed to be almost done, but cutting the blade would make it worse and easier to move her to a safer location. "Are you sure?"

She nodded and led his hand to her waist. "I trust you won't make my condition worse...**cough!**" She started coughing up blood, Lee propped her body and helped level her head. "Hurry... this shuriken is really heavy, and is digging deeper and deeper by the minute." She groaned and clinched her fists in pain.

Lee nodded and started to cut away at her dress. It was jagged, but now was not a time to be perfect. He then quickly made the cloth a suitable size for a gag.

"Now, when you see my blade turn red, help me cut the shuriken just about an inch away from my skin." She started channeling the fire chakra into her sword. "Then I need you to put the gag in my mouth and cover it with your other hand, this is gonna hurt." The blade turned red, she looked at Lee's worried eyes. "You ready?"

He took a deep breath and exhaled. "Yes, I am ready." He put an arm around her shoulders and put the gag in her mouth and then placed his hand firmly over her mouth. He then put his other hand over her hand holding the red hot sword. He took another deep breath and started cutting through the shuriken.

Asuka's eyes shot wide for only an instant before her eyes tightly closed from the rest of the world. Her deathly screams were muffled with Lee's hand and gag, even with that.

Her screams would haunt Lee forever.

Every second he spent cutting through the blade, he regretted hurting her for the better. He couldn't stand his beloved friend and teammate in this much pain. The hot blade blistering her skin and making her skin turn red and black with scorch marks.

"Focus your chakra Asuka! You're burning yourself!" Lee warned her.

Her screams stopped only for a moment for her to focus her chakra with her deep breathing. She continued channeling the right amount of chakra for the blade to cut through the giant shuriken.

She tilted her head back and tightened her grip on the helpless plants cushioning her hurt body. Her nails got through the weak weeds and started digging into her palm, leaving crescent moon shaped cuts into her skin.

For what seemed like years, possibly centuries, was only a mere minute to cut through the thick shuriken. Lee let go of her hand and allowed her to drop the blade next to her weak body. He then moved the, now odd shaped, shuriken away from her, and left the blade in her alone. Then he took some powerful ointment out of her bag and started rubbing it into her blister-burned skin and around the edges of the blade embedded skin.

After he was done treating her wounds, he took out her blood soaked gag and filled with slight joy of the sight of her gasping for air. Her eyes slowly opened and looked at the wound with tired-hurt eyes. She then looked up at Lee and tried smiling warmly to him.

"You did good Lee..." She placed her fingernail-dug hand on his cheek and stroked his face, leaving four blood streaks on the side of his face. "I feel a lot better now."

He took her hand off of him and held it. "I'm sorry I wasn't watching where I was going Asuka, if I was more careful, this would never have happened." He squeezed her hand and refused to look her in the eye.

"Lee, I'm accident prone." She placed her other hand on his shoulder. "I was bound to get hurt during this, I knew it."

Lee looked her in the eye, he had a serious look on his face. "Quit using that as an excuse!" He raised his voice at her. "I hate seeing you get hurt! I hate it! I wish I could take all the blows for you! I wish-"

"Lee! If I had never taken a single blow that sent me to the hospital, then I would be the weakest Shinobi I know!" She sighed and licked her dry lips. "I would die for our team, I thought you knew that."

"I do... it's just..." Lee was hesitant, not sure what to say.

"Are you two ok?" Hatsuharu hopped out of the trees, followed by Lee. "Hatsuharu was acting crazy a while ago and started running this way..." He saw what condition Asuka was in, his facial expression not soon after they had shown up turned into anger. "What happened?" He gave a cold stare to Lee and Asuka.

Asuka was about to speak, but Lee spoke first. "I messed up and got Asuka hurt, this is all my fault."

"Is this true Asuka?" Neji transferred his icy cold stare to Asuka.

Her eyes were wide and looked up at Lee, his eyes were full of sadness, practically saying _this is all my fault, I'm sorry_ either that or, _I hate myself_... She looked back to Neji.

"Well?" Neji slightly raised his voice.

She closed her eyes and looked away. "Yes, I warned Lee to watch where he was going, he then set off a tripwire and I stepped in front of him; blocking the Demon Wind Shuriken." She pointed over to the broken shuriken weakly.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is the scroll alright?" Asuka nodded and held up the scroll for him to see. "Good, we need to get a move on. But, now we can't afford to go anywhere."

"Not entirely..." Asuka told him. "Did you bring back water?"

"Yes, why?" Neji asked as he pulled out one of the canteens filled with water.

"Let Hatsuharu have it, pour it into his mouth, all of it." Asuka ordered him.

Neji did as she said and filled the wolf's mouth with water. Hatsuharu closed his mouth and let it settle.

After that, he opened his mouth to reveal a floating sphere of water. He then formed the water over Asuka's blade embedded waist and clamped his mouth shut; freezing the water and making the blade unable to move anymore, including her lower torso.

"Nice work, now we can move and get to the checkpoint. We can't afford to stop. Whoever set that trap will soon come back, lets go!" Neji told them. "Lee, carry Asuka, Hatsuharu can't carry her in her condition."

Lee nodded and carried her bridal style. Neji led the way and his team followed closely behind. Hatsuharu had Asuka's sword in his mouth and the scroll in one of his pouches.

A wave of exhaustion finally hit her. Her vision was cloudy and eyelids started to get heavy. "Lee..."

"Go to sleep, don't worry about us." Lee gave her a quick smile and continued on ahead.

As soon as he said that, she fell asleep in his arms as the wind blew through her slightly blood stained hair as some of the stray strains of hair stuck to her face.

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**Ok, the first thing that was added/deleted was by my friend, he is a major Lady Gaga fan and added this during the fight with the sound nin, "And Lady Gaga saved them all with her Disco Stick…" yah… you see why that was deleted… but that gives me a lot of ideas for some crack story. **

**The second thing was by y debate partner, he is a creepypasta fan, I forgot where, but he added something about Jeff the Killer when Lee was fighting the waterfall nin.**

**And for those of you who don't get why I named this chapter "Karma" it's because what comes around goes around... When Asuka killed the female waterfall nin and that trap went off... yah... **

**I'll see you guys in a few days!**

**March 18, 2013**

***There's No Rest for the Wicked***

**Reminder: If I get thirty reviews for this story, I will post the next chapter the next day.**

**Follow the arrow and review please! It helps me out a lot.**

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	22. No Rest for the Wicked

**My internet is being a bully :( enough said. **

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 21

No Rest for the Wicked

The last thing she remembered was how cold she was when she fell asleep in Lee's arms as he jumped through the trees while following Neji to the checkpoint. Everything else was either a giant blur or a realistic dream. Either way, the environment felt... calm, tranquil, no harm to fear of or from.

_Am I dead? Grr... I hate this._

Her eyes slowly opened to a room filled with blinding white light. She looked around to see familiar figured and smiled.

"Hey Lee... Neji... where am I?"

"We're at the checkpoint's infirmary. It's been a day since we got here." Neji answered. "The medical nin said you probably wouldn't wake up in time for the exam, they were proven wrong. You have two full days for you to heal and fight again, I suggest you rest." Neji gave her a cold stare, knowing her, she probably would be moving around.

"Fine, I will." She attempted to shift in her bed but cringed in pain and held her stomach.

"Don't move! You'll reopen the wound." Lee gently pushed her shoulders back down to the bed.

She sighed and just laid there. "Wait! Where's Hatsuharu?! The scrolls?!"

"Calm down Asuka, we were waiting for you to wake up before opening them." Neji told her as he held both of the scrolls in his hand.

"And Hatsuharu is with Kiba." Lee finished.

Neji nodded and tossed the earth scroll to Lee. He caught it and nodded in return. They both got low to the ground and opened the scrolls at the same time. Half of the room was then filled with smoke and a familiar figure and pose in all the thick smoke.

"Good work team Guy!"

"Guy Sensei!" Lee exclaimed.

"That's right Lee! I'm proud of you to have passed... what happened to Asuka?" Guy asked.

Lee lowered his head and let his eyes be covered by shadows. "It was my fault Guy sensei, if I had paid more attention, she wouldn't have been injured."

Guy placed a hand on his shoulder and slightly squeezed. "Lee, mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit to them."

Lee looked up at him with wide eyes. "You are right!" the spark that ignited his fire before was lit again. "I will admit to mistake," He went over to Asuka and stared deeply into her eyes. "If you are able to forgive me."

Asuka gave him a warm smile as she struggled to sit up. She then pulled him into a hug. "Lee, I will always forgive you for your mistakes if you are willing to admit to them, never forget that." She gave him a gentle squeeze and shared their warmth.

Lee accepted the hug happily. "Thank you."

_How cute!_ Guy thought to himself. _Young love just waiting to blossom into full bloom._ Guy's eyes filled with flames... or hearts, it was hard to tell right now.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he started to massage his temples. _There's too much... 'mushy' stuff going on._ He calmly walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"Oh, hey... yah, you can go in." Neji told him as he walked past and to a chair.

He walked in and raised his deep voice to the three people.

"Hatsuharu!" Asuka cried out and extended her arms to him.

Hatsuharu accepted them with joy and licked her face thoroughly while wagging his tail vigorously; knocking off some of the stuff off the bedside table.

"I missed you too boy!" She scratched the back of his ears and kissed his cold, wet nose as happy tears slid down her rosy red cheeks. "Guh... **cough!**" She started to cough up blood again and got some on her companion.

"Asuka!" Both Guy and Lee exclaimed in unison.

Hatsuharu got off and let Asuka ease herself back into her bed.

"Lee, get Neji back in here, I'll then tell you why I was summoned." Guy told his young pupil.

"Yes sensei!" Lee saluted and opened the door and called Neji in.

Neji came in and closed the door. "What is it?"

"Originally I was summoned here to give you some last minute advice before leaving." He cleared his throat and got serious. "Do you know why these scrolls were called 'heaven' and 'earth'?" They all shook their heads and let him continue. "Think about it, what makes chakra control easier? It's something you should have learned in the academy."

"A perfect mind and body, right?" Asuka answered.

"Correct Asuka, think of heaven as the mind, and earth as the body. You need both to be equal to be a great ninja!" He happily explained as he gave them a good guy pose. "Now, the advice I will now give you will help you if you face anybody from out of the village."

Lee nodded and pulled out a notepad and a pencil.

"Lee! Don't take notes, you won't be able to look at them in the heat of battle!" Guy scolded him.

"Yes sensei!" Lee put his stuff back and made sure to listen.

"Now then, the ninja from the sand village are mostly long distance fighters. Which means that they are weak in close quarters combat." Guy told them, they all nodded and let him continue. "The ninja whom came from the newer village known as the 'village Hidden in the Sound' are good in all ranged combat, so you need to think of a good strategy while in the heat of battle."

"What of the other smaller villages? Like the grass or waterfall?" Neji asked calmly.

"I have not heard of any of them passing yet, but they are not much of a problem since they're Genin, even facing off against you shouldn't be too hard." Guy told them. "Now I must be off, I have done my part, now the rest is up to you four!" He gave them the good guy pose again. "I know you'll make me proud! Good luck!" He vanished into a puff of smoke and left them.

"Anybody else have anything to say before I go to sleep?" Asuka asked them tiredly.

"Nope." Neji answered as he left again.

"Rest well, if you have any bad dreams again, just tell me." He gave her a welcoming smile. "Alright?"

She nodded, "Yah, I will, don't worry."

He nodded in return and left her with Hatsuharu.

"Well, goodnight boy." She petted him and went to sleep soon after.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

The next couple of days were easy, she mostly rested and ate while in recovery. To all of the medical nins surprise, she healed faster than expected. All that's left is internal bruising and a light scar from the blade.

The only people who visited her were her teammates, Kiba, surprisingly Kankuro and the blonde girl named "Temari", and Hinata... that's it really. Everybody else was either resting or prepping for battle. It was now the last day for people to come back from the Forest of Death. Naruto's team made it just in time too, last minute just in time.

After the Hokage told us what will be happening with the preliminary rounds and how they will work, how if you even lose you might become a Chūnin. And that Kabuto kid Asuka never met forfeited, making it even to have ten rounds. The first round was with Uchiha and Yoroi Akudo.

"Asuka," Guy spoke to her, "Go to sleep, you'll need it for your upcoming match."

Her eyes shot wide, "But, what of Lee and Neji's match? Don't I get to watch them?" She frantically asked.

"Of course! I'll just wake you when it happens." Guy reassured her.

She sighed and laid back into the welcoming fur of her companion and then drifted off to sleep with the warmth healing her new deep scar. Her dreams were filled with sounds of fighting and screaming, mixed with death. In other words, she was having another nightmare.

"Hey, wake up," Guy gently shook her shoulder, "Lee's match is about to go on."

She stretched out her tired limbs and got up from her body sized pillow named Hatsuharu to lean against the cold rail. She groggily smiled as she saw Lee in his fighting stance against Temari.

"GO LEE! YOU CAN DO THIS!" Asuka fist pumped for Lee.

He kept his focus on Temari, eyeing the giant black rectangular block on her back.

"You're about to fight the Leaf's Handsome Devil!" Lee told her.

"Humph, you're pretty confident, I'll blow you away." Temari retorted.

Within a few seconds the match started. Lee sped off to her and tried punching her, but she blocked with her rectangular object and jumped back to the wall.

"Once the three moons rise, you're finished." Temari taunted him as she revealed the giant object to be an oversized fan with a purple circle on the fan. She swung her giant fan with great power and nearly sliced Lee's arm off if it weren't for his strength and speed.

He took off again and juke a right punch and did a low sweep; knocking her off her feet and kicking her into the wall, leaving a giant crater with debris flying.

The wind was literally knocked out of her as Lee kept going with kicks and punches, making her stumble with every step as she tried her hardest to keep balance.

She finally gathered her bearings and did a substitution jutsu then tried getting him with another blow from her fan.

The wind merely grazed Lee and left his jumpsuit with a few tears and rips. He grinned and sped off again to her, faking her out and went behind her instead. He kicked her into the air and jumped with her.

Asuka laughed under her breath, "It's all over."

"You said it Asuka!" Guy acknowledged.

"What do you mean?" Naruto queered.

"That is the primary lotus, when used it hurts both the user and the opponent, but it hurts way more being the opponent, I should know." She laughed and rubbed her arm from her "joyful" memories.

"What's the primary lotus? Is that a jutsu I can learn!?" Naruto exclaimed.

"No, it's no jutsu, you solely use taijutsu, which you suck at Naruto." Asuka teased.

"Hey! I do not! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed and pointed a finger at her.

She quickly grabbed his finger and bent it back, making him fall to his knees and pleading her to stop. "It's not polite to point Naruto." She smirked and let go of his finger. She looked back at the fight and smiled, "Looks like Lee won."

Lee smiled with barely a scratch on him, while Temari had to be carried off by medical ninja. He jumped back up to his teammate's side and had the biggest grin on his face.

"YAHOO! I'M ABLE TO GO ON TO THE NEXT ROUND!" Lee jumped in the air with glee.

"Lee, calm down." Asuka told him as she timed it just right and hugged him while his feet barley made contact with the ground.

Lee smiled and petted her hair while putting his other arm around her waist. "Ok, I'm just so happy."

"I'm happy too." She smiled into his chest.

They released and Guy placed a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Lee... I'm proud of you too." He gave him the good guy pose with a little more twinkle than normal in his shiny white teeth. "Asuka, go back to sleep if it's not Neji next, ok? You need to keep your strength up for your match.

She nodded in agreement and lay back down onto Hatsuharu's warm welcoming fur. She looked at the screen and didn't see any name with "Hyuga" or "Neji" So she went to sleep and ignored the fight.

After a few more moments in dreamland, her silent mind was disrupted by a similar voice.

"Hey... Asuka, wake up." Somebody was rubbing her arm, coaxing her to wake up. "Neji's match is starting." Lee kept trying to coax her awake with a relaxed voice.

She groaned and opened her eyes with a hint of grogginess, "Really? That was fast..." She slowly got up and leaned against the rail with her arms crossed and eyes half open. Her tiredness quickly burned up and renewed into shock. "Neji is going up against his little cousin Hinata?!"

Lee nodded in response. "I don't know who to cheer on..."

"Or if Neji even needs cheering." Asuka butted in. "I would cheer for Hinata, but that would be going against my own teammate. HEY NEJI! CAN I CHEER FOR HINATA?!" She cried out to him.

All he did was give her a death glare in return.

"I'LL TAKE THAT AS A YES!" Asuka finished. "GO HINATA! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!"

"YAH! GO HINATA!" Naruto cheered with her.

Hinata glanced at them and back to Neji with a worried look on her face.

She was nervous.

"HINATA! YOU CAN DO IT! I KNOW YOU CAN!" Asuka cheered her on, "YOU'RE STRONGER THAN YOU IMPLY AND I KNOW IT!"

Hinata swallowed the hard lump in her throat and breathed calmly; activating her Byakugan in the process. Not soon after the match begun and it seemed like a pretty even match at first.

Hinata and Neji were trying to land gentle fists on each other with their chakra filled palms. If any of them actually make contact with one another, it would deal a great amount of damage on the inside, causing internal bleeding for who knows how long.

Neji kept trying to get her to back down by telling her that her destiny was to forever lose because of her unchangeable personality and nature.

"DONT LISTEN TO HIM HINATA!" Naruto cheered to her, "YOUR STRONGER THAN HIM!"

She nodded and gained a little confidence, then showed it by getting a little faster and landing a few gentle fists on him. She kept it up and told her older cousin that she was tired of running away and wanted to face the dangers ahead of her.

Neji then stopped her attacks and pulled back her sleeve, showing little dark brown marks.

"Uh oh..." Asuka accidentally let out.

"What do you mean?! What happened?!" Naruto practically yelled out.

"You see those little circles on her arms?" Asuka pointed out. Naruto nodded and let her continue. "Neji did that, making it impossible to beat Neji now."

"Why?" Naruto queered, showing a bit more interested in learning.

"Neji has blocked her chakra, making it to ware Hinata can't do gentle fist. She possesses the Byakugan, meaning that is one of the main attacks the Hyuga clan can learn, but they can learn so many more attacks if they are advanced like Neji." Asuka told him.

"How is Neji advanced?" Naruto kept questioning her.

"Neji didn't even come close to showing his potential against her, that's why I wanted to cheer on Hinata, at least give her some confidence so then she can have a chance against him." Asuka sighed twirled her hair in her fingers.

"Hinata can still do this though!" Naruto yelled out to her.

Asuka just stood there, wide eyed at Neji and Hinata. Hinata was coughing up blood, and Neji had that look in his eye when Asuka really made him mad, or when he's just in one of those "moods". Either way, she knew the look in his eyes weren't a good sign, and that she needed to end this match, fast... Because the proctor of the tournament already said stop and he's not stopping.

"Neji!" Asuka jumped in and tackled him to the ground, pinning him to the ground with his face to the floor and her knees on his shoulders. "Stop, you'll kill her!"

"I wasn't-"

"Shut up! I saw it in your eyes! You had the intent to kill your own cousin!" She pushed his face to the ground and grabbed his dark brown hair in her fist.

"Get off of me!" Neji tried wriggling his way free but failed with the help of Asuka's weighted jacket.

"Asuka," Kakashi put a hand on her shoulder. "You can stop, we got him."

She sighed and got off of him, "I'm sorry Neji, but that was going to be an unnecessary death to a family member of your own, I am truly disappointed in you." She gave him a death glare filled with cold flames before she headed back up the stairs.

"Asuka, why did you do that?"

She darted her eyes to the questioner and eased up a bit. "I don't know Lee... I guess I don't want to see Neji kill her, that's not like him, I know him better than that."

"Hmmm..." Lee scratched the side of his head and got deep into thought. "Hey! Look! It's your match!" Lee declared happily.

"Really? Who is it?" She looked at the screen with content that soon turned into mortified and paralyzed. She looked down at the battle field to see her competitor just waiting for her to come down.

"Asuka? What's wrong?" Lee asked and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She swallowed hard, her breath shaky and uneven, whole body quaking in total fear.

"Don't be scared! I know you can take him on!" Lee's encouraging failed.

"I-I'm... Sssscared... L-L-Lee." Her grip tightened on the railing as she bit her lip.

Hatsuharu licked her hand, causing her to jump and look at her faithful companion. He looked up at her with sad, puppy-dog eyes.

She took a deep breath and exhaled.

_I can do this. I can do this. I can do this._ She death gripped her sword's handle and sighed.

"I'll do it." Was all she said before hopping off and landing a few feet in front of her competitor.

"Are both sides ready?" The proctor asked them.

Her competitor nodded only slightly and narrowed his eyes at her.

Hatsuharu came to her side and nudged her, she petted him gently grabbed a fistful of fur and nodded.

"Ready..." the proctor began.

"Good luck... Gaara." Asuka told him.

"GO!"

* * *

**News! I will be only publishing one chapter per week for a while. 1. Because it's UIL week and I have tests to study for the upcoming few months left of school. 2. My time is being consumed for another project I'm not revealing yet, but it is a comic, not a story. And 3. Nobody really reviews… I love reviews telling me if I'm doing ok or not, or if they like the chapter or not. So… simple, if there aren't any reviews, then I feel like I'm typing time away from other stuff I could be doing. I'm sad to say that, but that's how I feel…**

**Sure I enjoy writing it, but I don't want to feel like nobody likes it. I know I have followers and Favorites on this thing, but… you guys are supporting silently… I like a little cheerleading… At least a little support would be nice. All my real life friends don't know Naruto and get confused when reading this, like, "what's chakra"… that sort of lost. **

**Anywho, see you guys next week!**

**3/25/13**

***Even a Strong Will is Never Enough***

**And I'm not going to bother asking for reviews, I stay silent and you guys do nothing, I ask politely and you guys turn the other cheek… so yeah. :/ not even Lee can cheer me up right now. **


	23. Even a Strong Will is Never Enough

**Well, at least I'm finally on time. THANK YOU to all who have reviewed and told me what's finally wrong about my story and for telling me how great it is at the same time :D thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 22

Even a Strong Will is Never Enough

She took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Good luck... Gaara." She weakly smiled at him.

He just gave her a cold glare that could freeze her to the bone if he was an ice element user.

"GO!" The proctor shouted to them.

Asuka quickly jumped back to the wall and focused some of her chakra into her fist then punched the wall; water pipes spewed from the giant crater and landed on the floor around her. She pulled out her elemental rapier and barley let the tip touch the surface of the growing puddle.

"Have you ever faced a ninja who can use five elements?" She grinned at her opponent, whom has yet to move a single inch. She glanced at Hatsuharu who already knew their plan and started it by sending out three water clones. Asuka just sped off to Gaara, trying to land a few blows on him but failed as his sand blocked every single attempt without him physically moving a single muscle.

_What's with this guy? I had a feeling he was a genius, but this is just ridiculous!_ She slid back in place, a few yards away from him.

"My turn." Was all he said, he motioned his hand towards her and a wave of sand followed his command.

She channeled wind chakra into her sword and expanded its fan, ready to blowback the sand just in case the plan didn't work.

The sand was then disrupted with the sound of grunting and growling; Hatsuharu had succeeded with the plan and had actually made physical contact with his body, biting all of his limbs.

"Was Hatsuharu too fast for you?" Asuka gloated, trying to irritate him.

The Gaara the wolves were holding soon fell apart into a pile of sand.

"What the-" She then felt sand wrap around her ankle, she whipped around to find her opponent just about a foot behind her.

"Is that all?" He asked darkly.

"I'm just getting started." She winked at him and got out of his sand grip with a water clone. She appeared above him and held the handle of the sword in her mouth while performing hand seals. Several water wolves came out of the now giant puddle and went after Gaara. All of them fell from his sand.

_I knew it, I'm just wasting chakra by using ninjutsu like this... unless I use both taijutsu and ninjutsu when the time is right._ She looked over to her partner and twirled the sword in her hand. He nodded and went after Gaara with all of his speed.

Gaara was barley able to block Hatsuharu, his speed was too fast for the sand to keep up at the moment. Gaara seemed surprised to see the giant wolf's speed in action.

Asuka jumped up and landed on the ceiling. She looked up to see Gaara still struggling to keep up with he wolf's speed. She smiled and struck her sword into the concrete ceiling and swished it out. The concrete cracked and cracked more as it started to progress faster to her target. When it was only a few feet away did rock spires come out of the ground and to Gaara. He dodged it by jumping back and almost getting bit by Hatsuharu.

Asuka took her chance and jumped as hard as she could to Gaara with sword in hand and eyes narrow to her target. Gaara saw this and knew that his sand wouldn't block, he moved out of the way in time for his arm to only get grazed instead of cut off completely through the bone. She landed and slid a few feet due to the dusty debris.

His creepy smile appeared again with wide eyes staring right at her. "Is that all?!" He asked her with a shaky yet creepy dark tone.

"Like I said, I'm just getting started." She dug her sword into the ground and formed a hand seal, looking into Gaara's eyes with a plot behind them.

"Guy sensei," Lee spoke up, "What is she doing?"

"She's doing Genjutsu." Guy replied.

"I didn't know she could do that." Lee said astonished as he watched his friend's battle. "Why did she make a single mark on him then? Couldn't she have cut him up more?"

"She could have, but her sword was soaked in poison before she cut him to make it easier for him to fall asleep while she used her Genjutsu." Guy informed him.

Asuka kept eye contact with him the whole time while trying to get him to fall for her Genjutsu. He was slowly going for it, she was deep within his mind now. It was dark and eerie, making her want to make him fall asleep sooner rather than later and end this match while she can.

A giant roar erupted in his mind, she whipped around and saw something big, light brown with black marking and dark rings around its eyes. It was terrifying, making her mind freeze in place as she stared up at the giant creature in horror.

**"GET OUT!"** The creature roared at her, he took a giant swing at her and made a direct hit, knocking her out of his mind and breaking the Genjutsu.

"Gaaaah!" Asuka shrieked as she held her head in pain and got to the ground on her knees.

Hatsuharu ran to her side and tried to help her up.

"What's going on!?" Lee gripped the railing so hard it started to leave indentions.

"Looks like the Genjutsu didn't work..." Guy told him. "If the Genjutsu is interrupted somehow in the mind, then the Genjutsu breaks and hurts the user mentally more than the opponent." Guy finished and kept his watchful eyes on the fight.

"Gaaah! Guurrr..." Asuka's vision wasn't its best right now; it was blurred with darkness and bright light.

_I have to gain a hold on myself and fast... Gaara might take his chance and get me while I'm down._

"Hatsuharu... distract." She rasped to him.

He followed her orders and went after Gaara, distracting him and his aggressive sand.

After what seemed like about a minute or two, her vision had begun to clear, but her thoughts were all over the place.

_What am I doing here? What's going on? Why are there people everywhere? Why is there air? Why can't I feel my own heart? How come I can't feel my brain? It is mine... Snap out of it!_

She shook her head vigorously, trying to shake the pointless thoughts out of her mind. Then one, sharp, desperate cry of pain made her mind snap back to reality.

Hatsuharu.

He whimpered and struggled to get back up, Gaara was pleased and moved onto Asuka. "Your next."

Her breathing increased, anger boiling, she was pissed. "You can hurt me however the hell you want, but NOBODY, hurts Hatsuharu." She death gripped her rapier and thrusted it out of the ground, causing the ground the tremble beneath their feet and shoot out sharp pillars toward Gaara.

He easily dodged and appeared a few yards away from her, throwing his sand around her. "Sand burial!" Sand was all around her, there was no escape.

But she wasn't going to give in so easily...

She channeled more chakra into her sword and sliced through the sand with lightning. "DIE YOU BASTARD!" Anger so hot it could freeze lava was coursing through her veins as she swung her electric filled sword just itching to make contact with something connecting to the ground.

She thrusted her sword to Gaara's face, but his sand blocked it. She dug harder into the sand and inched closer and closer to his face. Electricity was shooting out everywhere, into the walls, the ground, even toward the people who were watching.

"She's mad..." Lee commented silently while dodging some lightning that shot to the wall behind them.

"No fooling..." Naruto acknowledged.

"Even with all that power, she's still no match for Gaara." Kankuro told them.

"How could you say that?" Lee asked him, "Do you not see the field right now? It's near demolished!"

The field was nearly destroyed from all the lightning and earth ninjutsu she's been using. Causing craters to form and cracks to emerge with every passing minute. Debris laid everywhere on the field with puddles loitering the floor.

"That may be true, but Gaara is far stronger than you think." Kankuro warned them.

"We'll just watch and see wont we!" Naruto scolded him.

Asuka's sword was only centimeters away from his face now, icy fire filled her enraged eyes as she kept digging her sword through the sand and to his face.

He was totally calm, not a single emotion showing. Even if lightning that possibly held death's door was only mere centimeters away.

"Sand burial." He motioned his hand to her and made contact with her body, covering it from the neck down and held her in place. He backed away and made her drop the sword. "You still going to kill me?" He teased.

"..." She struggled to breath; the sand was constricting her lungs and limbs in place.

"What's the matter? Can't breath? I'll fix that with your death." He smiled ever so creepy again and started to slowly close his hand, making the sand close around her and near impossible to breathe with each passing second.

_Damn... I'm not giving up... not yet... I can't... I just can't..._

She struggled ever so slightly against the burning sand digging into her skin. Making it hotter and harder to breath.

The sand started to loosen.

She gained a few deep breaths and looked at Gaara, he was being attacked by Hatsuharu.

"Go Hatsuharu!" Lee cheered on.

"Kick his ass!" Naruto cheered along.

Asuka got free of the sand and fell to her knees as she held her chest and breathed in the cool air. Her eyes shot wide as she heard the worse noise possible for her to ever hear. She looked up and saw that her partner was in Gaara's sand. Blood eased out of the sand and crashed to the ground. Gaara threw him to the wall and left him there.

Tears brimmed her eyes as she saw her beloved partner, companion, brother, down on the ground, barley even breathing. "HATSUHARU!" She cried out and sped off to his side and propped him up. He whimpered slightly at her gentle touch. "Hatsuharu... I'm sorry..." Tears landed on his soft, blood clumped fur. "I'm so sorry, please, live through this... please." She scratched gently behind his ears and kissed his temple.

"Are you done yet?" Gaara asked her coldly.

Her eyes were covered in shadows, refusing to look at her opponent. She gently picked up her companion and sped off to the sidelines, placing him ever so gently on the ground next to her team. "Take care of him; I'm going to finish this." She jumped back to the ground without a response and finally looked at him, her opponent, whom in her eyes will die after a few more planned out moves.

"Why would you care about a mutt?" Gaara asked her coldly.

"He's no mutt, he's a wolf, and he was my first friend." She pulled out her old artificial weapon, the Kunai Claws, and held three in each hand. "Let us end this." She focused on her Taijutsu and opened the first gate, then whispered out the second and third one. "Gate of Rest, open." All of her physical, even internal wounds were healed almost instantly, she felt stronger and faster now. She even removed her 150 pound jacket and made another small crater big enough to fit her whole body in it. "Gate of Life, open." Her skin turned red, chakra exploded all around her and made the debris float around her. "Prepare for your untimely death Gaara of the Sand!"

She sped off and kept bouncing off the walls, making little indentions where she's been. Making it seem like she's invisible to the human eye. But Neji activated his Byakugan and followed her every movement. "She's so fast, even my Byakugan is having trouble keeping up." Neji commented.

"I knew she was fast, but I didn't think she was this fast." Lee acknowledged.

"Hmpf, I did start training her when she was only six." Guy told them proudly. "Of course she's this fast, she could be faster..."

"Guy, I can't believe you even taught one of your students this." Kakashi told him with a hint of anger.

"I did it for reasons Kakashi, reasons you wouldn't understand." Guy retorted.

"Still... I would never have thought you would teach one of them how to use the eight inner gates, how many can she open?"

"Six." He replied.

_What? I can only open five..._ Lee thought, _So, she would be stronger than me if we did have a fight._ Lee tried keeping up Asuka's movements, but failed trying.

_If I keep this up, my plan will work, he can't keep up with me, and neither can his sand._ Asuka thought to herself as she kept jumping around. _Time to make my move._

She threw one of her Kunai Claws' and it went straight thru Gaara's right arm and into the ground, spewing blood all around him, she quickly nailed the other end of the kunai's chain into a wall and repeated the process with all of his limbs with two in each limb; making it near impossible for him to move.

She drew her sword and made a final jump to him. "Prepare to feel my rage in full! Lightning water style: Wolves fang!" Water formed around the blade as lightning streamed from the edges, surrounding her sword and right arm entirely of water and electricity.

She sliced through half of his skull and landed behind him on her knees. She turned around with a serious look on her face as the inner gates closed and let her muscles basically turn to stone. Her facial expression quickly turned to mortified. "No... that's not possible..." She gripped her sword tightly as the sand clone crumbled and fell to the ground.

_My chakra is extremely low, I can barely move, I'm finished unless I can think of something... anything._

Gaara stood more than ten yards away from her with a wound in each arm. "You nearly had me Asuka... but it wasn't enough." His creepy smile grew wider as his eyes were filled with psycho killer look in them. "Now, I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly." He threw his sand at her and caught her ankle.

_Damn... what do I do? Take his beating until I think of something? I don't have a lot of options..._

He started throwing her to the walls around them, breaking and crushing vertebrae, along with her ribs and limbs, making it near impossible for her to move now.

"COME ON ASUKA! DO SOMETHING!" Naruto cheered.

"She can't." Lee informed him depressingly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"If you use even three of the eight inner gates excessively, your body will be in so much pain you can't even move an inch or else risk ripping a muscle." Lee replied. "That's why she's so physically strong, so then she could bare the pain of using it, but it seems that she's used it too much."

_Come on Asuka... you're smart, think of something... anything._ Lee encouraged her silently.

One last throw of his sand sent her flying above Naruto and crashed into the wall with her back to it, leaving a giant crater. Her eyes shot wide and coughed up blood before she fell flat on her face to the ground next to Naruto and Kankuro. They both backed away, making sure not to touch her and risk disqualification.

Her breathing was raspy and full of pain as she struggled to get back up but failed trying each time. Blood seeped out of her mouth, nose and eyes, making it harder for her to breathe and see anything.

"You should give up, there's no chance of you winning now." Kankuro stated to her.

"Don't say that!" Naruto scolded him. "She still has a chance!"

"You dumbass, look at her! She can barley move." Kankuro retorted.

"Shut up..." She rasped. "I'm tired of people thinking I'm dead weight... I can do this."

"Don't kid yourself, you'll die." Kankuro warned her.

_He may be right... I have to live... for Hatsuharu..._

She crawled to the railing and jumped off the ledge and back to the field. She looked up at Gaara's crazy eyes with her tired/soft eyes. "Ga...Gaara..."

"You wish to plead for mercy while I kill you?" Gaara guessed with wicked eyes.

She shook her head and shifted her weight to her other leg. "B... Before I die... or faint today."

"You will die by my hand alone!" Gaara told her.

She sighed, "B...Before I die... I want you to know... I enjoyed fighting you."

Everybody, including Gaara was in shock.

"What?" Gaara queered.

"I... I hope to fight you... Again one day... You're... You're a real challenge." She smiled and pulled out a kunai.

Gaara raised his sand, prepared for an obvious attack.

She shook her head and started cutting her hand, after she was done carving, she raised her left arm, showed him her blood filled/stained hand. "This... This is the symbol on your forehead... "Love"... This is a sign... that one day... I will defeat you." She stumbled and dropped the kunai; then fell to her knees. "You... You're my new rival... Gaara of the Sand... I, Asuka, plan to defeat you one day..." Her eyes slowly closed and filled with darkness as she face planted the ground.

Everybody was in shock on what she just said and did to herself. Gaara seemed to be in more shock, but shook it off and got angry and threw his sand at her.

"The winner is Gaara!"

"I don't care! SHE MUST DIE!" Gaara was filled with anger as his sand went after her motionless body. The sand crashed and spewed in all different places. He was slightly confused and looked around to find her safely in somebody's bandaged arms.

"The match is over, you won, isn't that enough for you!" Lee scolded him as he held his friend gently, feeling her broken bones and blood seep through her dark clothing.

Gaara snapped out of it and held his injured arms. "Why did you save her?" He asked harshly.

"Because she is my teammate, and more than that she is my best friend and I care for her deeply! So if you wish to kill her, you have to kill me first." He challenged him with his hard, dark eyes.

Gaara growled and used his sand to teleport back to his sensei.

Not soon after, the medical nin came out and took Asuka off of Lee's hands and set her on a stretcher.

"Will she be fine?" Lee queered.

"We don't know yet," Replied one of the male medical ninja, "please, just go back to your team and wait."

Lee nodded and had one last look of her peaceful face, and her newly carved hand before hopping back over to Neji and his sensei. The medical nin then carried her off in the stretcher and into the hospital.

_Please Asuka... please be ok._ Lee pleaded silently as he watched the medical nin carry her off.

* * *

**To that one reviewer who said, "I hope Asuka doesn't get too hurt"… I'm so sorry XD but… yah, I nearly cried while I was making this, and I have a stone heart so… yah. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope you review, don't be afraid to break my heart with constructive criticism, I love criticism :) **

**See you guys next week!**

**April 1, 2013**

***Broken Memories* **


	24. Broken Memories

**Warning: I am loosing my inspiration for this fanfiction, I really am and I don't know why either. So if this chapter seemed to go by fast, then I am sorry. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 23

Broken Memories

_Everything was bright, warm, and very welcoming. Thick clouds covered her private areas as she walked around on the soft, fluffy floor. She took a good look of her body to see that there was no wound, nor scars from previous battles._

_"What's going on? Where am I?" She questioned out loud._

_"You are dead." Stated a deep male's voice with no body to be found._

_"What?!" She panicked and held her head. "What do you mean? How am I talking now?"_

_"You are in the afterlife, you were a good person, so you have your own personal heaven."_

_"But... it has nothing in it." She scratched the side of her head._

_"That is because you will not be here for much longer."_

_"What? You serious?" Asuka queered._

_"Yes, very serious."_

_"I can tell..." She narrowed her eyes for only a moment before a certain thought crossed her mind. "You know everything about me right?"_

_"I never stated the fact, but yes, I do. Why would you queer such a topic?"_

_"Do I... Have any family members whom are alive?" She twiddled with her hands and looked down at her feet._

_"..."_

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

_"She has been reported dead for ten minutes now!"_

_"What are we going to do?"_

_"Look! The heart monitor, its-"_

_"The patient is moving, we need restraints ASAP!"_

_"She's breathing!"_

Asuka's eyes slowly opened to the bright, cold environment. White coats were walking around and to her bed. She looked to where the other doctors were going and saw something big that was bandaged with a little gray top.

Hatsuharu.

She tried moving but couldn't for some odd reasons. This was one of her fears. Being restrained. She struggled to move, but a pair of hands pushed her shoulders down and tried easing her. But her heart rate was rising, and her panicked thoughts came to her on the very many possibilities that might happen but probably won't happen in a hospital, like dissection. Her eyes were wide and blood shot as her breathing increased to try to get out of the restraints.

"Please calm down Ms. Asuka! You're making it worse for yourself!" The nurse warned her as she kept pushing down on her shoulders.

"Get the sedative in her system now!" ordered a doctor.

Asuka panicked more and kept struggling under the pain killer and numbness over her body. The oxygen mask muffled her cries of help; she finally worked a hand out of a restraint and tore off the oxygen mask.

"LEE!" She cried out, hoping and praying he wasn't too far away.

Only a nanosecond passed before the door was broken off it's hinges with a panicked Lee at the doorway.

"What's going on!?" Lee asked the doctors.

"Please sir, you must-" one of the nurses started pushing him out the door but failed as Lee kept his ground.

"Are those restraints? She's panicking because of those!" Lee scolded the doctors.

"You heard him! Get her out of those restraints!" The doctor ordered as the nurses soon started getting to work on the leather restraints.

"Now please sir, you must leave, please understand." The nurse started pushing him out of the room again and he allowed it.

"Get that door back up! We can't afford to move her yet." The nurse followed the doctor's orders and had three nurses working on it right away.

The restraints were off her now and she started to ease and let the sedative work its way through her system with the help of the IV. They put the oxygen mask back around her mouth and got her heart stable again.

"Heart rate stabilizing, breathing normal now, brain activity decreased. She is stable now." One of the doctors's reported calmly.

"Alright, Asuka, you'll be asleep for a few hours, and then you'll wake. Understood?" The nurse reassured her. Asuka nodded and let her tired eyes shut and into a blissful sleep.

**ooOoO0OoOoo**

Lee was outside in a waiting chair with his bandaged hands on his knees and has been tapping his foot for the past two hours since he barged in after Asuka cried out to him. He's been worried sick for her ever since then and wanted to be in that room so badly after the doctor's messed up by restraining her with leather straps.

Neji was leaning up against the wall across from Lee with his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He told Lee not to go in even if Asuka called him, but he ignored him and went in anyway. Believe it or not, Neji is worried about Asuka too, but hides it better than Lee. He didn't know if he was mad or if he should be thankful to her when she wakes up.

Some of the doctors and nurses started leaving the room, some of them with a smile of accomplishment and the rest of them had a plain look on their faces like they've done this before and had to do other stuff.

Lee stood up as a nurse went up to him and Neji. "We have good news, and bad news... which one do you want to hear first?"

Lee averted his eyes, not knowing what to pick. "Bad news first." Neji answered for him.

The nurse took a deep breath and looked over her clipboard. "Due to her injuries, she might have a hard time moving after she fully recovers, meaning it would be near impossible for her to be a ninja."

Lee clenched his fists and kept a straight face, just itching to hear the rest.

"As for Hatsuharu, he won't live past two months at max." The nurse informed them.

Neji kept his arms crossed and his face calm. "What is the good news?"

"The good news being, there is a chance for Asuka to be a ninja, if she recovers well and not move. Reports say she tends to escape hospitals before she fully recovers, so the best thing for her is to have people in her room at all times to make sure she won't escape. Understood?"

"So, there is a chance?" Lee asked with a hint of hope in his worried voice.

"Yes, but it will take her up to six weeks to heal, records also show she can heal quite nicely, faster than others by five to ten percent faster, so she might be out sooner than expected." The nurse ended with a smile, then looked over her clipboard again, forgetting something. "Oh, and she was reported dead for a full ten minutes."

Lee and Neji's mouths were gaped. _How could she have forgotten something like that?_ They both thought in unison.

"Other good news, she will wake up within six hours, so visitors are allowed till then." The nurse ended again with a cheerful smile before walking off.

Lee and Neji exchanged looks for a moment before Neji spoke. "Go ahead, I'll visit after you." Neji gestured to her room.

Lee smiled and thanked him before going into her room. He closed the door carefully behind him and took a better look of his sleeping friends.

Asuka was in that white hospital gown she always hated wearing because it was too thin for her taste. Her dark purple hair sprawled all over her pillow. And the bed sheet was over her whole body up to her neck.

As for her companion, Hatsuharu, he was in the worst shape in his life. His whole body except his head was covered in bandages and casts that reeked of antibiotics. His heart monitor seemed to have a slower beat than Asuka's.

Lee took a slow; deep breathe before taking a seat next to her. He took her bandaged right hand and stroked his thumb over her hand. He looked over to her left hand with the IV, and the hand she carved Gaara's "love" symbol on her hand.

"I still can't believe you did that to yourself, I never thought you would either." He brushed the stray strands of hair off her face and stroked her cheek. "Your skin is still as soft as I remember." He smiled and coaxed her arm. "I also can not believe you actually stared at the face of death and walked away, I wish you would quit doing things that make me worry so much about you."

He kissed her hand and placed it on his face, remembering her warmth with his, even with her bandaged hands, he could still remember her warmth like it was yesterday... because it was yesterday he last felt her warmth with a hug.

"Asuka, I am happy you'll live, but..." He looked over to Hatsuharu and averted his eyes back to her. "I wish the best for Hatsuharu, I really do." He got up and kissed her forehead before leaving.

He closed the door behind him and began to walk outside. _I want to make more memories with you Asuka, I prayed you would still be alive because you are my best friend._ He closed his eyes and exhaled as he continued out of the hospital.

Neji came soon after Lee left and into Asuka's room and shut the door behind him. He took a good look of her and Hatsuharu before taking a seat next to her and cupping his face into his hands. "Asuka... why didn't you just give in after you used the inner gates... why?" He looked at her, desperate for an answer even though he knew she wouldn't be able to answer.

"You are an idiot... do you know how badly I wanted to jump in and beat that sand kid's head in after he tossed you around?" He took his headband off and rubbed his forehead. "I don't know if I'm mad at you or... glad that your alive or... if I should be thanking you."

He brushed her hand and held her fingers. "I know I don't act like this when I'm around you, it's because I always have to be serious to keep the group together it seems like... If I don't then we might get hurt or in trouble... I hope you know this." He lowered his head and gently squeezed her fingers.

"Neji..." She gave him a gentle squeeze back and shifted.

"Asuka? Are you awake?" Neji asked desperately, getting up and leaning over his teammate; placing a hand on the side of her face and tilted her head so then she would be facing him.

Her eyes stayed close, irises lay still under her eyelids, not moving one bit.

"No... of course not." Neji sat back down and held her fingers. "You were just sleep talking..." He laughed to himself under his breath. "You know, sometimes I wish I knew what you were dreaming about." His mind wondered back to the real reason why he was here and let go of her hand.

"Like I said, I don't know if I should be thanking you or be mad... about nearly killing Hinata. I've told you why our clan is mad at the main and branch house! I know I have." His eyes narrowed to her sleeping face and continued. "Then again... If you haven't stopped me... the main branch probably would have killed me as punishment..."

He averted his eyes and held her hand to his chest. "So... thank you, but destiny can not be changed, I know this all too well." He put her hand back to her side and got up to leave. "And, I wish the best for you and Hatsuharu, even though Hatsuharu's fate is already sealed..." He left her room and went to go outside.

Hours have past since her last visitor, Neji, came by. She was still asleep in the hospital bed, due to wake up within about two-three hours tops. She was a heavy sleeper, so of course she's going to sleep her full time. During her rest, two Chūnins watched the door and the window to make sure she doesn't try to leave.

A visitor came in and set a single white violet in a small vase, then stood next to her. "Hey... I never did thank you for saving me, Naruto, and Sasuke back in the forest of death..." Sakura put her hands behind her back and smiled down at her. "So, I hope you get better soon, I know violets are you favorite, but if I had brought you a purple one... I'll just leave it at that." she giggled and started to leave. "Get better soon you two." She left and closed the door behind her.

About two more hours past, it was nighttime now and she was due to wake up any minute now.

The door creaked open and light footsteps entered. The Chūnins outside her door and window were murdered by being crushed. The person who had done this stood next to her bed with cold eyes, he intended to kill her tonight. He raised his hand and the sand hovered above her body.

Her eyes slowly began to open and see who it was. "Gaara... what are you doing?" She tried moving, but her body was still numb and cold, despite the blankets covering her.

"I'm here to kill you." He responded darkly.

"Why?" She queered as sand began to wrap around her arms.

"I need to finish what I started." He replied simply.

"There's more behind it." She stated as she struggled to sit up and get a better look of him.

"No there isn't, I simply kill because that is what I was born to do." He narrowed his eyes.

"Where would you get that idea from?" She asked as the sand crept up her limps.

"When my own father tried killing me with assassin's six times." He answered coldly.

"Why would he do that?"

"Why do you care?! Why do I feel like you of all people actually care?!" He let go of his sand grip on her and held his head. "Nobody has cared for me! I've been alone for the past twelve years! My whole life!" He shook out the memories. "And now, since I have nobody, I love only myself." He pointed to the mark on his forehead.

"Why were you alone?"

"Because..." He didn't know if he could or should tell her or not.

"You have a tailed demon in you, don't you?" She guessed. His eyes shot wide and looked at her with disbelief. "When I was using my Genjutsu, I saw something that shoved me out of your mind and hurt mine in return. Only a Jinchūriki can do that."

He lowered his head, then gained his confidence again and raised his head. "Yes, the villagers feared and avoided me my whole life because of the one tail, Shukaku, being sealed within me when I was born."

"Gaara..."

He seemed more attentive, "What?"

"Come here..." She gently swung her numb legs off the bed and stood on the cold floor with her bare feet and stumbled towards him.

He backed away from her like she was sick with a deadly disease. "Get away from me!" He wanted to move his arm to hit her with sand, but couldn't bring himself to do it for some odd reason... so he just kept backing up away from her.

"Stop moving..." She told him as she held her side in pain, but kept advancing to him with slow steps.

He finally got to the wall and was trapped now. "What do you want from me!?" He asked as he closed his eyes and cling to the wall.

Her skinny arms laced behind his neck and pulled him in with her head in his shoulder. She let her weight fall from under her but didn't fall to the floor. Gaara was in shock. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't done this in years. He didn't even know what the name of this motion was.

"What... are you doing?" Gaara rasped.

"I'm hugging you..." She tightened her hold and let him carry all of her weight. "Even though I'm in great pain right now... you need one... just like the first time I met a Jinchūriki, he was alone, sad, depressed, didn't know what to do with himself. We were kids then, I hugged him, and he felt better. Now, we're friends." She kept her soft grip on him, making sure not to let go.

"So you think you can just win me over? You can just hug me and we can be friends?!" He asked coldly.

"... Yes. I want to be your friend."

"But I basically killed your partner-"

"Shut up... I know... I don't know his condition right now but... It was my own fault." Burning tears rimmed her eyes. "He was getting old, and I knew it. But I kept him by my side because I love him, and he loves me." The tears slid off her cheeks and onto Gaara's neck, making him tense up.

"Why... do you love a dog?"

"Because, he's been there for me ever since I could remember, he's one of the first memories I have." She put her hand on the back of his head and started petting him.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you telling me this?" His eyes were still wide as he just stood there and let her hang on him. He lowered his head and clenched his fists. "I am no human... I am a monster."

" No your not!" She scolded him, "Just hug back damn it..." She would have petted his back, but there was a giant sand gourd in the way, so she kept playing with his blood red hair.

He did as she said, hesitantly bringing his arms around her waist and squeezed gently.

She cringed in pain and scratched his head lightly.

"You sure-"

"I don't care about the pain... you need this." She kissed his cheek and buried her face back in his shoulder.

He was even more confused now, not knowing what to do or how to handle this. So, he just used his sand and put her back in her bed.

Her eyes were closed shut and fists gripped so tight it made them turn white. She tried calming herself by carful breathing and clearing her mind.

Gaara took off his sand gourd and set it against the wall as he took a seat. He averted his eyes for a moment and asked, "What... pain... did I cause you?"

She eased her pain by ignoring it and looked around with a hint of hurt; picking up the clipboard on her bedside table and looking it over. She laughed under her breath and told him. "Let's see... two crushed vertebrae, shorter by one inch."

She sighed and tilted her head up. "Like I'm not short enough as is..." She looked back at the clipboard and continued. "Three cracked vertebrae, five cracked ribs, three broken ribs, both thigh bones cracked, right shin broken, left shin cracked, and skull cracked in three different places. Dang... you did a number on me." She laughed weakly as she looked at Gaara.

His eyes were full of curiosity. "Is your pain funny?"

"No... no it isn't, it's just that I usually get reports like this, but down graded by about two stars. You gave me a five star report, which means either I was dead or I was about to die... Look, I did die, for about ten minutes." She pointed out and showed him.

_That would explain that weird dream I had..._

She shook the thoughts out of her head and continued. "Internal bleeding, alignment slightly off with small intestines in the rib cage... this is the worse report I've ever read." She laughed more and held her ribs in pain.

"You've had this happen before?" Gaara queered.

"Yah... I'm accident prone, so I usually deal with stuff like this in two or three stars... this is the first five star report I've read." She scratched the back of her head and continued. "Will live and become a Shinobi if get plenty of rest and does not move much... oops, I've already moved."

Gaara shifted in his seat and waited patiently for the rest.

"Heart and lungs embedded with bone fragments, do not let walk around for more than five minutes when legs heal." She rose her eyebrows in agreement and continued on to the next page. "Let's see... Hatsuharu's report..." She went from a smile to worry, "Every bone crushed... pieces larger than a coin imbedded within the heart and lungs..." She bit her lip and continued, fear rising in every breath. "Paralyzed from the neck down... wont live longer than two months... inform owner after she fully recovers in six weeks..."

She lowered her head and let her bangs fall over her face, covering her eyes from the rest of the world. Asuka gripped the clipboard and broke the cork board into pieces. Her muscles ached, but she ignored her muscles cry for rest and threw the broken clipboard as hard as she could into the wall.

The clipboard embedded into the wall and stayed there with the paper still hanging from it. A loud echo rang throughout the room and made her eardrums ring. She ignored the sound and sunk down into her sheets, muffling her silent crying.

Gaara just sat there... awkwardly not know what to do of this situation. He remembered whenever Temari would be in a bad mood, Kankuro would tell her all would be fine... or just yell at her before Gaara heard her crying, afraid what he would do if he got a headache. He remembered watching them with his sand, Kankuro would comfort and hug her until she stopped crying... should he do the same to Asuka? He didn't know...

**_Kill this weak female Gaara... Now is your chance to spill blood for my gratitude._**

_I don't know..._ Gaara responded to his darker thoughts, _She seems to be suffering enough because of me._

**_Then put her down like the mutt she is! She is human, no match for a monster like you._**

_I am a monster..._ He lowered his head and ignored Asuka's crying.

**_Exactly, what you've done to this female is like seeing a animal in pain, you HAVE to put it out of its misery._**

"I am a monster..." He rasped.

Asuka was still crying and shaking under her covers. The pain from her injuries surged through her like a lightning rod attracting lighting, but she ignored the pain as much as she could as the stinging tears scarred her cheeks. But she still heard what Gaara said and pulled herself together and faced him again. "What did you say? You're a monster?"

He nodded and clenched his fists. "I have a monster... My purpose is to kill... I must satisfy... **my hunger**..." The sand rose again and over Asuka's body.

She took a deep breath and stayed calm. "Gaara, what's sealed inside of you doesn't make you," She reached out and held his clenched hand. "There are two separate minds in you, remember which one is yours, just because you have a terrible past, doesn't mean you have to let that affect your future."

"SHUT UP!" The sand surrounded her numb body, slowly squeezing her broken bones. "You don't know what I've been through! I've told you but you don't know my pain! Don't you dare act like you know!"

"You're right, I can't relate, because I don't remember one thing before I was four." The sand started to ease up and slowly fall to the ground. "But the Hokage gave me a home, and let me go when I was six, I lived with my partner, Hatsuharu ever since I could remember. I love him, and because of me... He wont live much longer."

"Get to the point!" He clenched his fists tighter.

She held his fist still and rubbed his hand with her thumb. "Sorry, I started rambling. I can feel your pain, if you let me."

"What do you mean?" The sand was nearly entirely off her now.

"With my Genjutsu, if you trust, and let me enter your mind. I can feel your pain, and see glimpses of your past. It won't hurt you, but it will hurt me." She looked into his cold eyes with warm welcoming ones and tried convincing him with her stare.

"How did you learn this?" His eyes softened a little, with a hint of curiosity.

"I got into the Hokage's forbidden scrolls at one point when I was a kid and learned how to regain and look into other people's memories, trying to find a way to regain my own. But I failed at that; so maybe I can help you out if I know your pain." She smiled warmly at him.

**_Don't trust her! Your only purpose is to kill, not be friends with this harpy!_**

He lowered his head and let his hair overshadow his eyes. "Alright, but I don't trust you, but I will let you enter at your own risk." He scooted closer to the bed and kept his head down.

"Alright, I can deal with that." She scooted closer and placed her hands on the side of his head. "In order for me to do this, you have to look into my eyes." She messaged his temples, melting his anger and stress away.

He sighed and did as he was told, looking into her eyes and completely empty with thought. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, only to show him that her eyes have supposedly turned completely white. His eyes went wide and empty as she entered his memories.

_Everything was dark again, eerie, and quiet; just like last time._

**_I_**_ **hope I will be able to help him, if I can't, then I don't know what I'll do...** Asuka commented, knowing Gaara won't be able to hear her._

_"Ha ha! You can't get me!" A young, childish voice called out._

_"Hey! I had it first!" Another child cried out playfully._

_Asuka had successfully entered a memory, sand filled the grounds as children played in a playground of some sort at a school. By the looks of it they were keeping the ball away from one of the kids with dark brown hair and playful eyes._

**_There's the kids... but where's Gaara?_**_ She looked around the playground a bit more thoroughly in the vivid memory and spotted a tree with some nice shade. There was a swing attached to it with a child with red hair and sea-foam green eyes, holding a teddy bear in one hand and the swing with the other. He looked rather sad and lonely... Like Naruto when he was kid._

**_So, this is where it all started... he was alone when he was a kid. But this can't be the source of his bloodthirsty hunger, I have to find a different memory. _**_Before she was about to leave, some of the kids gasped in horror. She whipped around and saw that the little blue ball had landed at Gaara's feet._

_"Oh no!"_

_"How are we going to get it back?"_

_"Maybe we can just leave it there..."_

_Gaara's eyes filled with curiosity, along came a small smile as he got out of his seat and picked up the rubber ball. "Here... you want it right?" The young Gaara offered to the frightened kids._

_"No!"_

_"Stay back!"_

_"RUN!"_

_Before Gaara knew it, all the kids started running away from him. Abandoning him in the now ghostly playground. He sighed and lowered his head as he dropped the ball and tightened his grip on the brown teddy bear. "Why do they always leave?... What did I do wrong?"_

_Asuka frowned, wanting to give the young Gaara a hug and make it all better for him. But she couldn't, and she knew it. **I need to find another memory, the reason why he's the way he is now.** She left the lonely memory and soon after found another one._

_It was night, and by the looks of it, Gaara was the same age as he was in the last memory; and he was on the roof tops with somebody else whom was masked._

_The masked man threw kunai and shuriken at Gaara. But his sand quickly covered him like a shield. With a thrust of Gaara's hand, the sand covered the masked man and raised him a few feet above the ground; crushing the hostile man in his burning sand. He closed his hand completely, forming a fist and completely crushing the man._

**_Well... I see where Gaara got his start of violence from._**_ Asuka commented awkwardly. This memory seemed darker, as in it was hard to see. **It seems that he's tried really hard to forget this memory, I can't blame him either.** She sighed and went to find another memory. **It seems like I have been skipping a few things... I better start looking a bit more thoroughly.**_

_"Asuka!"_

_Her eyes shot wide of just who said her name. **Was that... Gaara? As a kid? Crying out my name?** She quickly looked for the source of the young Gaara._

_"Gaara!"_

**_Was that... me?! Crying out his name?_**_ She quickly found the memory and looked into it. This was another memory that Gaara had tried to forget, it was foggy and dark. **That's... me... as a kid.** She choked out. **Is this... where I was before? In the village hidden in the sand?** She desperately tried her hardest to make out what was happening._

_There was either a young man or a teen boy, carrying the young Asuka in his arms. The young Asuka clawed at her carrier, desperate to get out of his arms. She reached out to the young Gaara and cried out his name once more._

_Gaara tried running after her, but he was still a kid, his young legs couldn't carry him far. Tears brimmed his eyes as he continually tried to keep up to her captor._

_The memory then faded completely dark. She knew what this meant. Her chakra was running low now, she had spent enough time here and was now being sucked out of his mind and back into reality._

Both Asuka and Gaara's eyes closed as soon as the Genjutsu disappeared. Gaara still sat there as Asuka got back into her bed and held her head.

"Well? What did you find? Do you understand my pain now?" Gaara hammered her with questions.

Her eyes were wide now, hands shaking and eyes twitching. "Y-yes... I have an... un-understanding..." She pulled together whatever was left of her strength and held Gaara at shoulders length. "D-do you know me?"

He raised an eyebrow-less muscle and looked at her with confusion. "How would I know you? We just met a few days ago."

"Gaara, I saw a memory of a child that looked an awful lot like me, being carried off by a stranger and yelling out your name, and you were yelling out my name while running after me. Do you know me?!" She squeezed his shoulders, desperate for an answer.

His eyes shot wide. "I... I remember of a familiar memory of your description..." He, without question, ran a hand through her hair. "Your hair... feels the same... what is your name?"

"Asuka! It's Asuka... Do you know me?!"

Both of them tried keeping their breathing calm and collected. But tension so thick and tight it felt like they could use some oxygen tanks for their head's lack of air. He licked his lips and gently gripped her hair in his fist. "Yes."

* * *

**I loved all the positive feedback I have gotten on this story, and believe me, I WANT to keep writing on this. It's just that… my mind goes blank when I try writing the next chapter. So I don't know what the deal is. Like, if it's because of my new project, school, stress, prom, why is being in high school so hard and… stupid? Why? **

**Have an epic April Fools day!**

**If I even have a chapter up by April 8, 2013. Then I would surprise myself… I really would. I don't even know what to call the next chapter. Anybody got any advice on writers block? I have the story planned out, it's just that my brain hates me and refuses to work with me when it comes to detailing a story. **


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